Green Light with Chris Long - Bobby Slowik! C.J. Stroud, Stefon Diggs & Texans Offensive Outlook! Belichick on ITNFL, Trent Williams' Holdout & Training Camp Memories!

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

TRAINING CAMP MEMORIES! Chris and Beau relive NFL training camp and talk about the biggest storylines coming out of 2024 NFL training camp. Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik then joins Chris and talks C.J. Stroud, coaching Stefon Diggs, the Texans offensive and Laremy Tunsil's elite ability to pass block! (00:00) - Hello to Philadelphia, PA and REDBULL (7:30) - 2024 Training Camp Moments: Jim Harbaugh's Training Camp Mentality, Trent Williams, Mekhi Becton Training Camp Puke 10x and Jonathan Owens Receiving the Training Camp Pass (45:13) - Chris' New Inside the NFL Teammate Bill Belichick (53:55) - Joe Burrow's Haircut and Saquon Barkley's Phone Call with Joe Schoen (1:03:00) - 2024 Paris Olympics Hypetrain (1:09:23) - Texans OC Bobby Slowik on C.J. Stroud, Stefon Diggs, Laremy Tunsil, offensive play design and Texans 2024 Outlook Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the things I noticed right away, he reminded me of Burrow and Brady, because I think those two guys do such a great job of keeping their eyes downfield and navigate the pocket. Burrow is a great example. Brady is the best example. I mean, we've we've thrown on and watched Brady. We've watched Breeze. We've watched Peyton. We've thrown on all their film. I think it's always good to take those and learn from those.

And Brady was elite at doing that. You know, how he got to the top may be different, but always getting to his launch point. in the pocket and then being able to navigate push and being willing to take what the defense gave him in between his special plays made him an extremely efficient quarterback, you know, and that's something that CJ is really embracing and even right now working through in a very competitive camp. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Hey, what's up players? I will be quick today because we've got Bobby Sloan. The offensive-minded man in Houston, he talks C.J. Stroud, why he reminds him of Joe Burrow and Tom Brady. The underrated players are on the offensive side of the ball for the

Texans, which defensive players are primed for a breakout season, and what a week 14 by means for him. Before the interview, Chris welcomes on Bo Allen. They have a wonderful time. They talk a little Red Bull flu tog and pole run that Bo is actually going to be doing this weekend in Philly. They go through training camp dues and don'ts. Some of the viral videos that have come out from training camp so far this year with Jim Harbaugh making an appearance. Covered Trent Williams' holdout and what it means for the 49ers. And we talk a little Olympics. We have a blast here on Greenlight today.

Make sure you tune in on YouTube. We'll have interviews there as well. And catch it next Tuesday. Go Novaia, Pennsylvania. Hello. Bo. What's up? Tell us why.

Why? Well, okay, Chris, I'm during the Red Bull Championship run in Philly. Why? I. Wait, start with, I? am doing it. Greenlight team is doing it. I'm a member of the Greenlight

crew. I'm a correspondent. You know, you like to send me on random adventures. Pickleball fucking the draft in Detroit. And now I'm headed back to our lovely beloved city, Philadelphia, because Red Bull is doing an event where they're kind of capitalizing on the people of Philly, the championship run.

Basically, they're going to grease up a bunch of poles and let people, Philadelphians, climb them. Because if you remember, in 2018 after we won the Super Bowl. It was a big to-do because the city greased up the poles after everyone was climbing them. So Red Bulls making an entire event out of it. I'm going to be representing our lovely podcast, Greenlight Pod, and doing some hosting.

And, yeah, I think they might try to get me to climb one of these grease poles. They asked me for my height and weight. So we're going to see how that one goes. I might fucking, like, super glue some sandpaper to my hands, get some competitive advantage. I feel bad for the pole. I'm going to be dancing on that pole like I'm at fucking, uh, risque or whatever out of yourself here. Whatever, whatever we used to go to after games and Philly.

I never went to, I never went to any after games in Philly. I was too old to go to the strip club. Yeah, me too, Chris. Me too. But you did take me to that under 18 bar for New Year's that one year. That was cool. Yeah, and then remember we tried to get into that after hours bar and got booted

with Connor Barwin. We came back one year or a year ago, shit, two years ago. And we go out with Barwin and we go to this nightclub and we get to the line and the bouncers are like, y'all got any girls with you? And we're like, no, of course, no, we don't have any girls with us. And they're like, y'all got to go. I was like, hey, man, I don't usually do this, but I'm going to throw a bit of a fit here. You know, we got a Super Bowl in this city. Yeah, this is a guy.

Barwin's built a bunch of fucking playgrounds. You know, like you're going to not let him in. So anyways, Bo's going to be climbing grease poles. I'm pretty interested to see if people in Philly can climb the grease poles without the ecstasy of a victory. Yeah. I think they're still riding that high enough, Chris, where the ecstasy of the victory is still there. Okay. They'll have to get as drunk as they were when they climb the poles the first time.

That's the only way they can do that successfully. There's waivers for that. Yeah. I'm a little nervous. Okay, okay. So let's get to it. I want to talk about your big idea that has something to do with this because you've been just screaming through the Zoom right up until we recorded.

So go ahead. You now have the floor. Well, you guys know that Chris can be a little bit of a homebody at times. He's got a lovely home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He's got a lovely home in Montana, which seems like you're at right now. but every now and then Chris comes up with these crackpot ideas like hey I'm going to fucking float down a river in a giant pumpkin and so you know this time around your boy the butter king I'm trying to come up with some fun content ideas with us so speaking of Red Bull part of the reason I'm doing this is because I want to cultivate a relationship with this company because I want to do the Red Bull flutog which is November 9th in Tampa Florida and basically for those that don't know what this is is essentially you create these giant winged contraptions. with a team and you push them off a high ledge and see how far that they can fly. And I basically told Chris, like, we're doing this.

You have to do this. I'm trying to bully him into doing it because it's going to be such a cool event. They haven't done it until they haven't done it since before the pandemic. And Chris, we're big boys. Like we push sleds, you know, how much. I'm not worried about it. You're acting like you're pulling teeth here. The first moment you mentioned, I was like, I'm fucking in.

But you just, I texted you about it. All Chris said is, I'm in. I'm excited about it. about it, bro. I'm excited. I'm really excited, too. I just take things one day at a time. You know, November 9th, we'll deal with that. But I'm looking up the pictures of all these planes getting pushed off into the, where are they getting pushed into the, the, the Schuple River? No, this will be in Tampa. I think it'll be into the bay. Oh, fuck, sharks. They haven't released the site yet. Dude, they don't, this is a very, it's kind of a well-guarded

secret, okay, because they, they, you know, part of our team, like, they don't release the location until kind of right before the event. But they have, dude, we have to get selected. So that's why I'm trying to create some media buzz. I'm talking about this. Hey, we need to get selected, bro. Red Bull, what's up? I went down a river and a pumpkin almost 40 miles.

I went down a 100 foot water slide yesterday. It was almost a sheer drop. It's called Geronimo. I had to say Geronimo on the way down. I am a Red Bull athlete, dude. Okay, I'm ready to roll. Bo's ready to roll. I'm going to win this fucking grease pole climbing competition.

there's another half they're going to put our team in. Yeah. No, no, no. That's great. I'm rooting for you. So that's something to look forward to. That's something exciting to look forward to. You know what else we have to look forward to, Bo?

Watching training camp. Yes. Not participating in training camp. Roll the Harbaugh clip if you can. Yeah, let me see this. Just the way it feels, I mean, it feels like New Year's Day. You know, it feels like being born. It feels like coming out of the womb, you know.

It's like you're in there and it's comfortable and it's safe. And now you're out, you're born, lights are on, you know, it's bright. Chaos, people looking at you, people talking at you. And it just feels good to, you know, have it happen. What a fucking, bro. What a beauty. Like, you can't, it's so nice to have, like, a coach in the NFL who's, like, not super polished. Oh, he's shooting from the hip.

Yeah, he's shooting from the hip, man. like it's like coming out the womb like you're nice and comfortable in the womb and all of a sudden you know that you know why that's not pre-planned and you know a lot of coaches have like pre-planned press conferences because nobody's going to sit there and be like yeah let me do childbirth today yeah you know like that's a lot of things you could equate camp to you know like for me i'd say like d-day maybe you know not not me not not not not not not not not not not not they didn't get they didn't have a bunch of gator lights and and tasty snacks on the way out the door to D-Day. It wasn't like when they dropped the, the fucking, the big door open on those amphibious. What were those, what did they call those things?

She got the wrong guy for that, Chris. Yeah, well, Matt's the history teacher. Are you talking about the D-Day and B? I don't know what they call those. Is that what you told? That was people on them? LCT6. Their landing craft tank.

Yeah, Matt didn't know that. He was just telling his students, they had these fucking. boats. Hibious vehicles. No, anyways, when they dropped the door on that thing, they weren't like, you know, hydrate up, you know, like.

No, they're like, jogged inside, nine on seven, on the jog. They said. You're fucking walking, you're losing. Who are the Germans in the, who are the Germans in the training camp? Like, like,

the offensive line. Mid-2000s Patriots. Yeah. So anyways, training camp's hard. I never thought of it like being born, partially because I don't remember being born. I'm not like Terrence Howard who went on the Joe Rogan podcast and talked in depth about his memories of coming out of the womb to inside run. But honestly, it is refreshing. It's going to be refreshing to have Harbs in the NFL.

I just think, I think, you know, like, I, I, I, I, I, I think. I've got to do a segment coming up for my other job where they're like, hey, what's the most exciting thing about this year? And I do think just on its head, what am I most excited to see? It's Harbaugh, the guy who I watched in the NFC West take a team that was a real mixed bag, strike sort and season, got them to win 10 games, made Alex Smith look good, made Colin Kaepernick look really good. And really just he's one in a million as far as his motivational tactics and the whole thing because he's just so authentic. Like he really is. And that might get him in trouble sometimes, but you hear it in his voice. Like that guy really believes everything he's saying.

And you have a choice with our team like that. Get intimidated by the guy or find him amusing and be motivated by him. If he's saying this shit to the media, you know what I mean? Like imagine what he was saying to the team and to the entire building, the entire organization, in that three hour long first camp meeting. You know what I mean? I wonder if he's doing a little on the wall on that one.

I wonder if he's doing a little Sean McDermott, you know? Which happens to be, can you believe we forgot about that? We just kind of moved on. Yeah, exactly. Never forget. Big Durmets.

Yeah. Rally. Jokes today. We got 9-11 jokes. Fucking, what else we got to the 9-11 joke. Not joking. Not joking. I don't know, man, camp every, every year, and I did this yesterday morning because it's the 25th today and people are reporting on the 24th.

Like I said, a little alarm. And I put the label on it like training camp and you wake up and then you go back to bed. Or in my case, you check with your wife to see if you can go back to bed because I've got three kids in the house. But it is that time of year where for the longest time, you know, being up here in Montana training, like, a month before camp everybody's on vacation having a good time i'm not you know like i am but i'm not you got that dark cloud kind of sitting over you you're thinking about the pressure and i talked to these guys about the other day bow i think the thing that makes camp really hard it's not just the physical it's the doing all the physical things and doing them well it's not just like a hey can you

get through camp the scariest thing about camp used to be looking at the draft picks, looking at the undrafted guys. And yes, I was looking at the undrafted guys and everybody, like, these guys are going to take my spot. Yeah. And every year you get older, they're trying to replace you. And there's a whole new crop of young guys. And you got to stay healthy.

You got to get through it. But you have to play well. The pressure on these guys day in and day out, when you have a play in nine on seven or on third down where you bust or they crease you, it could be 9 a.m. You got to live with that play until you take the field the next day. So it's 24 hours of either getting dressed down in the meeting rooms, waiting to get dressed down in the meeting rooms.

That's almost the worst part sometimes. Like, did they see that play? Are they going to pull me up? Like, it could happen at 9 a.m., but it's all that's on your mind until 8. And everything is being recorded, too. I mean, to your credit, Chris, like, and that's, there's just a level of expertise. and like it is on the line every single rep.

We used to record every single rep of individual drill. And this is one thing that I hadn't seen also until I was in New England. And I wasn't even participating in camp because I was on IR. But Bill will take a rep of individual or a rep of, like we used to do a modified Oklahoma drill where it was like, you know, it was perfectly acceptable for the NFL and NFLPA's rules. But it was like an O lineman and a D lineman and a running back. and it was structured in such a way,

but if you had a horrible shitty rep, like let's say you miss your hands on a strike and you get bent over, which happens. Like this shit happens in camp. Like everyone gets beat. Put it up in front of the entire team and team meeting. You know what I mean? And there is just such,

I feel like this has kind of, you know, really like advanced, even in our time, since our time in the NFL, Chris. Like there are so many eyes on you. Like people will take you know. People you don't even know. People will post videos like camp clips of one-on-ones, you know?

Oh, yeah. And it is just, I mean, it is, camp is truly anxiety-inducing. Well, I'm talking about the people upstairs, too. Like, they have meetings upstairs with people that I've never met that work in football. And you might pass these people in the hall. And they might have been dogging you till midnight the night before. But you're in line for a coffee. And they're like, how you doing?

And you're like, who is that guy? But that's the way it is. And then, like, you said it. It's not just the people in the building, but it's also the people out of the building who oftentimes don't have context within a drill or you know they're looking at one-on-one pass rush with no pads and they're making these determinations off that that type of thing and so i just said this like the rules of camp uh you know obviously show up in great shape show up ready to compete show up you know ready to stay healthy as best you can but uh also don't look up like don't count the days we had my college coach i'll grow

used to say, don't look for the light at the end of the tunnel. It's a train. And I never could really figure that one out. But as camp went on, it was apparent to me that he was right because back in the day, training camp was six weeks long in college. You'd stay at the Cavalier Inn in Charlottesville, which is an outdoor hallway hotel, you know, run-of-the-mill kind of motel for six weeks and for college guys. It's no problem. But it is a marathon. And you're a marathon. And you're a away from your families as you get in the league that becomes more noticeable when you got kids and a wife and that sort of thing and they got to come visit you once a week or that sort of thing nowadays with the new camp structure like they have a day off every couple days um there's a lot more time

uh beau you're a little young you didn't do the old cba training camps where we had to walk uphill in the snow but like hey i don't give a fog camp is hard as fuck no matter what area It's in. It's a great equalizer. And that's my point. It does. It's not all about physical. You know, like my dad and them, they used to go a couple months, two days, because they weren't getting in shape in the off season. They'd use camp to get in the shape. Now we've swung to a place on the pendulum where it's like, well, that's, that's so foreign to me, Chris, because I feel like camp was always the peak of my physical well-being.

You know what I mean? The first week of camp is the best you're going to feel. Exactly. It's the best you're going to feel all season. And then every year, it just gets shittier and shittier you know what's your what are your favorite what are your favorite parts of camp i'll go one you go one here's one i really like uh the conditioning test because usually i was going to smoke the conditioning test i could run like i had really good win but i i loved watching especially the big guys that clearly weren't going to make it or like the big guy group there's always one guy that dives he lays out completely to try to make his time and and less than 50% of the time this move works.

But it's so funny to me because I think the dive is fueled by some desire to show the coach that you care when really the best way to show the coach that you care would have been to be in shape. He's still kidding. That's one of my favorite early moments in care watching the conditioning test. I always liked, then this is maybe a little bit dark, but I always like seeing some of the rookies roll in with, you know, maybe you got a fifth route pick who's driving a charger. and you're just like, buddy, like take a look at the roster.

Yeah, one of my favorite things is actually cutting the rookie's hair. So people at home, there's like a tradition. And it's kind of like it's a pseudo tradition because a forced haircut is kind of like hazing, right? And, you know, for white guys, no big deal. We'll fuck our hair up. But the bros, they don't, they've been working hard at that shit. Like, you know, they got cool hair and like it takes a while and there's things that we don't understand about tending to that hair, that said hair.

And so these rookies will roll up. And by the way, by the time you're in your 30s, most of them could probably beat you up. You know, like you're just not what you were when you were 23. You're a little bit older. These guys are physically impressive. So they roll in. And the first thing I'm thinking about is which one's going to fight one of the vets over a haircut? Like, that's honestly one of my first thoughts.

because back in the day you could haze a lot more. We had like rookie shows and the whole thing. And the rookie show was amazing. I can remember in McWan, Wisconsin, me and David Vibora leading up, heading up the rookie show. It was we called it the Rammies. It was like the Grammys. And we gave out awards. Like we gave one guy the Captain Save a Ho Award.

He just married some rapper, his ex-girlfriend or something. Like we really, when they, when they're like, hey, motherfucker, this rookie show better be good. We're like, oh, it's going to be good. Are you going to be able to stay in your seats? You know, like we fried Richie Incognito. The place, we had a standing ovation, the whole thing. But, you know, you get up and sing. You do some of that stuff's going by the wayside.

The haircuts are still prevalent. And my favorite part was just watching the friction. Yeah. That was created every time they're like, it's time to go in the bathroom, guys. And I used to just stand outside the bathroom because I'm not cutting Josh Sweat's hair. He's worked a long time on that. and the guy's much bigger than me.

Along those same lines, Chris, we drafted in 2017, 2018. I was with the Bucs. We drafted Bita Bea, all right? The biggest motherfucker you've ever seen in your life. And he had the long hair at the time. We just interviewed him last week on Greenlight Pod. Check it out. But he, it's like he had this fucking long Polynesian hair beautiful.

Biggest dude ever, he's like, yeah, you guys aren't cut my hair. You're not cut my hair. I'm like, yeah, okay, you're right. So we ended up just shaving both of his eye. eyebrows off. It's like, careful what you wish for, buddy. You'd have been like me on that. There's some guys are like, nah, fuck that.

We're cutting these guys hair. I'm like, well, you're going to need to get a crew to hold this guy down. It kind of depends on the rookie too, though, Chris, because you know, like some guys, you just need to fucking cut their hair, whether or not they're going to give you friction. Like, you need to kind of let them know, like, hey, this is how things are going to be. Like, you better fit into this mold here. Yeah, you got to read this. You got to talk to the scout.

Like, do these guys have any character concerns or was this guy in a lot of fights, you know, at his timing at Texas Tech? Like, maybe I shouldn't cut this guy's hair. Some rookies were just a little too eager for the haircuts. Like some drafted free agents are just offering themselves up. You're like, yeah, you're taking the fucking fun out of it, man. Yeah, you got to make it a little bit of a like, oh, this sucks. Yeah, exactly. You know, I think what they think is if they do that easy and there's some credence to this, if you're just a.

team player during camp they're not going to hit you so hard during the rookie dinner and that sort of thing later my favorite part about camp one of my favorite parts about camp is when the coach is like and these coaches always act like they're the first to ever do it and they deserve like a parade for doing it but at the end of a practice they're like all right guys call it up get the jugs machine out give me the five fattest fucking guys on the team down there and they're going to try to catch the ball You know, like they do the motorized punt and they put the hang time on high and these big fat BMI having motherfuckers stand down there and they try to track the ball and usually one will get hit in the face or something. Another guy will fall down because it's hard to catch puns in the NFL, let alone from one of those machines. But then inevitably, the coach will be like if one of these guys catches the ball, we don't.

don't have practice later today, and we're going to the movies. Now, I don't want to go to see Invictus as a team in 2010, which was not a great movie with Matt Damon in the spring box. Steve Cragnolla took us to see Invictus, and I'll tell you what, it was a hell of a lot better in practice number two. And my back was killing me in that movie. It was way too long. I'm sitting next to Cliff Ryan and two other big guys, but anywhere was better than Earth City on the field. And so by punt catcher like number four, if nobody's caught it, the coach basically makes a decision that like, I don't care how many it takes. We're going to give these guys a chance because this is going on today. We're going to get the afternoon off.

That is a great moment in camp because it signals the light at the end of the tunnel coming. You know, my college coach said, don't look for the light. It's a train. In this case, this means camp's getting close. and I love like even if it was the last thing I wanted to do going to the movies as a team. Like something like that was a lot of fun. Yeah. I'm trying to think my favorite.

This again, this is like my favorite shit about camp is always stuff that's like kind of a little bit fucked up. And one of mine is like. Yeah, because you're a hater. You're like, oh, I love it when the young D tackle gets carded off. Yes. Another one bites to dust. I'm safe. But no, my favorite thing.

And I was, so I was seventh round pick, Chris. I didn't have Silver Spoons stuck up my ass like some of us. It was it. Damn it up there. People are saying. So what I'm saying is I always had to play in the fourth preseason game. And like usually that was a time for me where you only have a certain amount of guys that are playing, right? So you can get a lot of reps.

I always kind of liked it because I always played well. At the same time, it was a grind. But it was an opportunity for me to be like, okay, I'm playing. the fourth preseason game is always a fucking bloodbath. And I love watching it. I love watching the guys who are like on the roster bubble pregame. They're just like in their lockers. Like they know that they got a fucking strap-in-out because they're going to be playing 75 snaps, every single special.

And then those games are always just a bloodbath. There is always, it's always kind of bad ball. Everyone's busted up at the end of camp. Everyone is trying as hard as they possibly can. There's fucking bodies on the ground. Like, like, there's. The scheme, the scheme is whittled down. It's literally just like three defenses, five offensive runs, and like three different

past concepts. So, like, Canada's offense. Exactly. Like, the coaches don't give a fuck. The coaches are checked out. You know what I mean? There's, you know, 40 guys that are playing every single snap. And so that was always kind of a fun moment for me to just be like, what the fuck is

is going to happen in this game? some dude always randomly balls out has like an unbelievable stat line and that gets even stephen means stephen means well stephen means so stephen means was like such a legend people that followed eagles probably remember stephen means this big jack the end he he wasn't like a burner so he had some physical limitations but he had an incredible power rush yeah and he was a hard worker to the park as hard as fuck every single that he was like the grim reaper to the o lineman like the show team was going to get fucked up. They were going to yell out by stout because of means. And the defensive coaches loved him. Everybody loves Stephen. He was such a legend.

When he got cut, Jim Schwartz cried. He like, we had like a big meeting out on the field. It's like, I had to let Stephen Means go. And we're like, I'm super bummed too, but he's getting some playing time down in Atlanta now. So I'm not talking about now, but that year later. But the point is, like, Stephen Means, I'll never forget this, preseason game for everything you just said just total shit show last day of school vibes you got all the vets on the sideline with their food rolled up in their socks like you know nothing more fun than being on the sideline watching when you know like usually i'm supposed to be taking 40 snaps and my life's on the line not my life but my career it's really fun to sit there and watch the guys and to just be a spectator in an

NFL game we don't get that opportunity a lot that fourth preseason game is that opportunity and i can remember watching Stephen Means at the end of that game, folk hero, two sacks to close out the game. It was a night game, I think, against, I don't remember, the Jets. Always the Jets, yeah. It was the Jets. And this was a closely contested game, came down to the wire. They would have taken a couple shots to try to win the game, which nobody cares.

The last thing you want to do is go to overtime. So, like, I think overtime's on the line. The last thing you want to do 1130 at night in the fourth preseason game, everybody in the building, like, we need to go for two. or vice versa. The game's on the line, so is two more hours. Okay? Stephen means hero status, one sack, two sacks as the time expires.

And he used to do this like Jeremiah Trotter like Axeman thing. And I remember he got that last sack and he does the Axeman and they set the fireworks off as he does the Axeman. And the fireworks are coordinated with this guy's celebration and everybody's going nuts. we get to go home, camps over, basically. And Stephen Means is a folk hero. Those games, like you said, Bo are incredible. They're also great because, and all the preseason games are good for this, somebody's going to get in trouble.

One of the vets is going to get in trouble for being out of the locker room too late after half. I can remember, and I'm sure you do. I think it was 2000. When you were there, Bo? I think you might be talking about me. I don't know what you're getting into, but this is a story. I think I've told here before, because I always had to play in the fourth preseason game. In 2017, I had tore my peck, so I missed a lot of camp.

But I kind of played in the tail end of it. I remember Jim Schwartz, who, you know, we love, like, love playing in that scheme and love him as a guy. Kind of said to me like, hey, if you're going to be playing, like, you're going to be on the team, blah, blah, blah. But you need to play in this preseason game just to kind of get your feet wet, like, feel that contact that you've had on that injured peck, you know, before the season starts. So like we're going to get you a couple series, like whatever.

I think I got 10 snaps. And it was my first time my career that I didn't play significant time in the fourth preseason game. And so I'm in the locker room at half time like fucking jerseys rolled up like shit my fucking cleats are untucked. Like don't have to get all that shit off so you can really enjoy the game. Yeah. And I'm like, what the fuck do I do?

Like I don't have to play in the second half. And Kelsey's like, let me show you what to do. So me and Kelson Lane are just ripping hot dogs in the media room in the locker room. Okay. And I'm like, fucking awesome. I'm like, I feel like I'm part of the Cool Kids Club, you know. I'm eating hot dogs with fucking Kelse and Lane and I'm loving it. All of a sudden, I'm like, I'm kind of caught up in the moment, you know?

And then I like kind of listen. I'm like, oh, it's, it's quiet. It's too quiet. There's no in here. Go look out in the locker room. Everyone's gone. I'm like, oh, fuck. Like, throw on all my shit really quick.

Put my helmet on. Start sprinting out of the tunnel. And this is at MetLife because we're playing the Jets. We get down to the tunnel and the kickoff team is fucking rolling down the field. And I'm like, like, it's me and Kelson Lane. I'm like, what the fuck? You'll cut across the end zone, dude.

Me cut across the end zone, the back. And I was, like, doing one of those, like, walks fast. You were the ball in the air. I didn't want to sprint because I didn't want to be, I was trying to be, like, sneaky about it, but it was, like, so obvious. And Dog is just hands on hips staring at us, bro. Sticks. Like, Lane and Kelson can get away with this shit.

But, like, yeah, boy, is the first fourth season, fourth, three season game I'd ever not played in the second half. So I, I, like, walk over there. And I'm, like, trying to be incognit. incognito. All of a sudden, Dom comes over to me on the sideline after I finally get there. He's like, Doug is pissed. Dog is going to find you. Conduct detrimental. It's like 17 grand. 17 grand over a hot dog. Doug, like literally had a hot dog in my mouth strolling across the end zone. Like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm sick. I'm like, I am fucked. Like, I'm fucked. I'm going to get hit with conduct detrimental. Dom is just laughing at me. You know what I mean? He's like, big Dom is just like, yeah, Doug is pissed. Doug is going to get to get. your ass with a fine. Like, you fucking... He was mad.

He was mad. So that I'm like, after the game, go up to Doug. I'm like, I'm really sorry. Like, I totally, like, I fucked that up. Like, I am so sorry. He's like, just come see me. Come see me tomorrow. Fucking set my alarm.

I'm like, I swear to got him, I'm the first guy in the building. Go up to Doug's office. I'm ready to get my fucking ass chute out, ready. Like, thinking I might be getting cut, like, blah, blah, blah. Like, Doug's just like, oh, no, you're good. You're good. He's like, just go do that again. I'm like, I will never do that again, I promise.

Schwartz was mad. Dudes were mad. That was so bad. You got to be careful. You can't be laid out of it. Get your uncrustables. Put them in your fucking sock. Unbutton your shit before halftime so that it comes off quick when you get in there

and get the fuck back out. Because I will never forget watching you guys waltz across the end zone with the ball in the air. It's feeling grows a pit in my stomach as I watched that ball getting kicked. And I'm just like, and it was a touchback too. So like everyone's eyes just went right to us. Hey, that first night when they give you steak and lobster, when you get there to like fatten you up like a waggo steak, you know, like a veal.

Like they want you as tender and beefy as possible and they want you happy. So they give you like a great meal the first night. And then it's all downhill from there. But I will say this. I love hotel life. So, you know, you tell me I got to go stay at the holiday end for, three weeks i'm good like so that that to me is a is a fun part the only part that sucks about the hotel is you know you got to get sleep a lot of these practices are in the morning you got to be back at the

facility at seven you know that sort of thing you need sleep but they check your rooms at like 11 11 30 at night like that's curfew so if you go to bed at like 10 10 15 to try to get a full eight hours you're going to get woken up at 11 o'clock to somebody slamming your door open you know it's like Thanks a lot, coach. So I think the hotel is great. You got Wi-Fi, strong Wi-Fi, good for porn if you're into that. You have privacy. If you're older and you don't have a roommate, but you're having a roommate's the dumbest thing in the world.

I mean, we're million-dollar athletes. Like, we can't get our own rooms. I'm not saying we deserve, like, Taj Mahal, but do coaches have this? Are they on, like, their own floor? They aren't on your guy's floor, right? It's, like, players. I don't even in a hotel. Coaches aren't even. Oh, they're not. Hey, rules for thee, but not for me. You know what I'm saying? And I know for a fact, some of these coaches are out getting it in at night. Because we've had coaches before that come in bragging about things they're doing. And you're like, really?

I know exactly what you're talking about, Chris. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, but anyways, training camp, it is it is upon us. We don't have to do it. I do miss inside run. I swear to God, I miss it. I miss the first drill of the day going out there, strapping up. We used to take pride. I can't speak for Bo. I'm sure he did. But I took pride in, like, testing myself.

And like, hey, all this work I put in all year, I want to show what I've been doing. Right? Like that first week, you want them to cut because I go upstairs and say, this guy had a good offseason. This guy slacked. So I took pride in that. I took pride in the bruises on your forehead. the bruises all over your arms the the the little stuff yeah the bridge of your nose uh that stuff was it was a sick kind of point of pride and um i do miss that competitive edge i i'm sitting here in

august almost of 2000 and what years at 24 and i'm i'm six years removed from being tested that way and it is something i miss but um let's let's get into it i mean Jonathan Owens got the pass to skip all this. That's a smart man right there. His wife is competing in the Olympics, one of America's finest athletes, and he got the perfect, you know,

because, like, we would give guys shit when they'd miss camp because they're, you know, a lot of guys would like, you know, they'd have pregnant wives who are giving birth during camp and you give them shit.

Hey, great timing, man. That's a real, that move. Yeah, real smart. Yeah, the real smart move is to date or to be married to an Olympic athlete

so you can fuck off to Paris for a couple days during during fall camp a couple days i don't i don't know how long i think this guy's gonna be gone for a while what a fucking treat for him man he's he's just a supportive husband you know what i mean chris he just wants to support his girl

out there as she competes with some of the finest athletes in the world meanwhile his ass isn't throwing up ten times on the sideline you know what i mean no like uh like back and puking uh in philly i actually texted lane to be like was it really ten times he hasn't texted me back yet i think he's out there doing and everything we were just talking about.

But the beckton puking thing reminds me of my favorite puking story, which is Bo Puking on Killimanjaro. Oh, my God. I should have fucking seen this one coming. Hey, I'm a barfer, all right? I'm not going to lie to you. I've thrown up many times, too. When I signed down in Tampa and I my first camp in Tampa,

I threw up just from pure heat because I'm like that guy, you know, that meat had white detack. I'm ripping supplements before practice. I'm taking caffeine pills. Yeah, you're supped up. I'm fucking supped up, baby. I get out there and it's 90 degrees with 95% humidity and I'm throwing up on my way, jogging on my way over to inside run.

So I, you know, I don't judge a guy for throwing up 10 times of practice. Just don't fucking miss any reps. It sounds like he didn't. I've seen guys puking just down their bodies. Like just standing there helpless with the look in their eye. Like, you know how when a guy gets a full body cramp on a plane? There's just nothing they do about it. And everybody's like, man, I'm so I've seen guys puking for 15 seconds straight just down their jerseys.

One of the funniest things I've ever seen, the third preseason game. You know how it is? The third preseason game is like a dress rehearsal for a game for the starters. We played in Pittsburgh. And I don't know, like I was in for the entire series. Steelers had a 16 play drive. And it was hot. It was, you know, third preseason game is always that point in camp where everyone's pretty fucked up.

You don't have time. Like, you haven't had that time. But that's why you need preseason. Right, exactly. But, dude, 16-play drive, the Steelers are in the red zone, pouncy, getting ready to snap the ball. He's calling out the mic point, throws up on the ball. No. Staps it to Rothesberger, who throws an incomplete pass because the ball was all slimy from his fucking throw-up.

And I'm sitting there as a nose guard. I'm right over the ball. I'm like, bro, this guy cannot be fucking serious right out. Grows up on the ball, snaps it. It's so fucking funny, dude. There's a lot of gross shoot that happens on the field. I'm not going to lie to him. Yeah, they're like, get hands on the center.

You're like, I think I'm going to shoot the gap. I'm quick swimming this one. Quick swimming. Now, we're talking about the Jonathan Owens thing, him skipping training camp, people skipping training camp in more regular ways. Trent Williams is holding out. And I think we were talking about this coming into this deal,

because I think what's interesting about this whole thing is you got Brandon Iuk who is a good player and he's demanding a certain thing and San Francisco and him are a certain distance apart. I'm not really sure what's going to happen with that deal. But everybody's been paying attention to IUC and Trent Williams quietly, like at the start of camp is like, well, I'm the big fish and I'll be going first and I'll be sitting. at least at the beginning of camp because I want a new deal. And I can't disagree with Trent Williams. No.

It's just impressive to be that he's doing it this late in his career too. And he's not wrong. You know what I mean? He's not wrong. He's one of the best alignment there is. And he knows that, obviously, which is why he's sitting out. But I mean, you can't really fault a guy for trying to get paid like that, especially when he's a player of that caliber.

You know what I mean? Well, you know, you can't. And I think when it comes to leverage, look at the tape. with him off the field last year. Yeah. And you tell me who matters the most in that building. And I know that like Christian McCaffrey's a huge deal for them. Brock Purdy has turned into a really good quarterback.

I mean, not turned into it, he just is. And you've got Debo and that sort of thing, but Trent is a straw that stirs a drink. And I think when you look at the Niners, they have gotten kind of lucky at times. I think they've done things the right way. They'd be good. You've got to be good and lucky, right? I mean, they have drafted and brought up blue chip players at a clip, which is, quite frankly, I didn't expect it with John Lynch. I mean, anytime you got a former player GM, like the results are mixed and he's been one of the more successful ones.

But they've built a program there and they built it off picking the right guys. but they've also gotten lucky, too, with the Trey Lance pick. Like, that would sink a lot of organizations. But they've got a lot of blue chip guys. And most importantly, they find, you know, Brock Purdy in the Tom Brady section of the draft. You know, which you want to give credit to them for doing that. But I always say if you knew Brock Purdy or Tom Brady was going to be Brock Purdy or Tom Brady, I'm not comparing the two, but you know what I'm saying.

You would have probably picked them earlier. So there is some luck involved. in being the Niners. I think they got lucky with the quarterback thing. I think with the Christian McCaffrey thing, it's them knowing they're the only team that can make a move like that and really profit off it. I mean, because I always say like the running back is the last thing in today's NFL.

It's a luxury that you invest in if you have everything else. So they have been able to do this thing in a non-standard way. But I don't think you can call Christian McCaffrey a running back in the modern sense. It's like the way he's used, he's such a Swiss Army knife for them. And obviously he's a running back that is his fucking position, but he's used as a fucking slot. But to my point, I don't know that other teams would have been able to make that move and survive,

giving up capital, investing in a running back. And also what they've been a little bit lucky on is like he stayed healthy. Yeah. And they haven't like protected him. In fact, one of the things that Shanahan's talked about going in this campus, we have to do a better job protecting Christian from Christian.

well that just starts with y'all like you got to make that decision so um i think the point i'm making is they're at an inflection point here and it's a sneaky inflection point where i think they're going to be good no matter what but to get back where they've been the majority of the years they have to stick the landing on the the succession in which you pay your players and you know i think the purdy thing's going to happen next off season right um i think the guy you got to take care of right now is Trent Williams. Because if you don't have those guys under contract with Brock Purdy, he's an unknown commodity with an average team around him,

as are a lot of quarterback. So I'm not trying to pick on Brock Purdy. But if Christian McCaffrey starts getting dinged over the next year and a half of his career, if Trent isn't under contract, forget the IUC thing, if Pierceall, who to me, investing in a one and a wide receiver this year says, hey, we want to work around this IU thing and keep the options open. Well, he started Camp Hurd.

Like, Pearsall's got to be a player. So there's a couple things that have to happen for them to keep doing business as usual. And I think item one is making sure that Trent Williams is happy and that he is a 49er for as long as you can have it. The pretty thing will take care of itself. And at some point with these quarterback deals, his deal will look like a bargain if you keep the right pieces around him. I don't care how eye popping the numbers are right now, I think three, four years down the line. So I'm not balking at paying party. You got to pay

a guy who's showing you what he's shown. I think he's like kind of a, he's like, he's like, he's got a little of the Tua thing where people doubt him because of what's around him. But I think the difference between him and Tua is the ability to make plays all platform to extend plays. And that's why I think he's not just a game manager. But I will say this. Like overall, I think 49s are at kind of like an inflection point. And they do have some complicating factors. One of them being like, I want to know how good this Pearsall guy is.

And I want to know sooner than later. Right. And so I'll be keeping my eyes on Niners camp for sure in some of these contracts situation. And you know who's the happiest that Trent Williams is holding out for camp? Who? Nick Bosa. Bosa.

Yeah. Or anybody rushing over? I don't even know about Nick Bosa, but like if you're going into camp and you're a defensive end and you're getting evaluated, like say you're with the twos and you've got to play Trent Williams every day, like that kind of sucks. And you might at the end of camp be like, I didn't really get a lot of chances to work on my stuff because this guy's so good. You know, it's kind of nice to rush against the third tackle or whatever because you get to show your stuff. Like I can remember being a college player playing in three, four. And to Brickshaw, Ferguson,

was the tackle. And that guy's got go-go gadget arms. And I'm lined up in a four-eye. And they're like, you got to figure it out, win, you know, get on his edge, you know, bull him. Like what it? And it wasn't happening. And I just remember looking up through he's in the camp and saying, my confidence is kind of shot. And it's great working against Elaine Johnson. But it's also nice to get some work against the second tackle because then I get to work my stuff. And, And the coaches get to see that I have some stuff. If you're playing a blue chip guy, the whole camp, it does make you better, but it can also limit you. So that's a great point.

Chris, do you think that your new colleague, Bill Belichick, misses reporting the camp? Does he feel like you guys? That's so funny. I just saw a report the other day that Bill turned down the DC job with San Francisco, which would have been a lot of fun to watch. But it also speaks to probably where he is. Like, I think he wants to be a head coach at some point in his career. Again, I think he will be. I haven't talked to him about this.

Like me and coach have kept in touch, like, over text over the last couple of years. And I will get, I'm not acting like I'm his best friend, but he's coached a lot of guys. And like for him to return text messages, he speaks a lot to who he is. I mean, he's always texted me back. And he texted me, in fact, one time, unprompted as a result of something we said on the pod, which was like, oh, fuck, Bill might be listening or somebody's telling him. I had a check to make sure we've been. positive, but I was complimenting the fact that Bill sits in coach and allows the players

sit in first class and travel, which is pet peeve of mind when coaches don't do that. You got the fucking quality control guy, his legs dangling up there like a little three-year-old in his iPad. Do you think at the inside of the NFL when you guys record that he's going to do that to you players, he's going to give you guys the comfy chairs? You ride. Oh, that'd be nice. That'd be nice.

It'd be good of him. But that's who he's shown to be so far. like we've had a couple production meetings and that sort of thing and like the first zoom when bill popped on i i was i was blown away by how relaxed he is and i think you're going to see a side of him that's totally different that the players have seen like players that have played under him have seen like he'll sprinkle in the fun bill and fun bill is pretty fun dude like he's funny he's actually pretty funny chris that was one of the biggest things that surprised me because i played for the Patriots. Like I said earlier, I didn't actually play because I was injured, not like you.

But he's like, there's some things. I was expecting him to be a hard ass about certain things. He's very laid back about some things that I've had other head coaches be really big sticklers on. Like dress code. Dress code. At practice, no big deal. Just be in your fucking gap, man. I don't need you to tuck your shirt in. And then other small things like, I remember being dumbfounded because one time there was a guy who was kind of late.

for a meeting and it was it was he was completely understanding of the issue at the time and i remember just being completely dumbfounded about that so he's a fair guy he's a fair guy and he can be fun and and i think like being on inside the NFL with him number one i'm like hey how lucky am i you know like i'm sitting here watching as one of his former players i'm watching him leave the patriots wondering what he's going to do. We're we're theorizing. We're giving our take and we're in the take. I'm in the take. The take is that he should go do inside the NFL with Ryan Clark, Ojo Sinko and Chris Long, and it ended up happening. Like I could not believe it. And I cannot tell you, and I've known this for a couple months, the amount of people that I've wanted to tell. And some people that I've

actually told, I've been like, just guess. Guess who's filling this chair? And no one guesses Bill. And then when I tell him, they're like, holy shit. And I got to tell you, when I was on that Zoom call the first time with him, and I played for him, and I've won Super Bowls, and we've had great careers and fun careers. But to sit at a desk with Bill his first TV job, especially considering his seeming unwillingness to, like, get in front of a camera and play this game,

I think it's just crazy. I said to my mom, I was like, I just got off a production call with Bill Belichick. I feel like in 30 years, no matter what happens this season, If he's with us for a couple years, if we do this for a long time, he's back coaching. I can tell my kids, hey, this story, you know, like, I opened the Zoom for inside the NFL gig and I'm staring at the goat. And I'm hearing him analyze football on a week-to-week basis.

Like, we're going to tape on Wednesdays. I'm going to bother coach. Like on Tuesdays, when I get up there, I'm going to be like, coach, every Tuesday night, I want to watch film. Chris, I haven't worked up the courage to ask him. that, but I think I'm going to ask him that. Yeah. One of the things that I appreciate so much about my time in New England is I was a fly on the

wall a little bit there because I was on IR, but his ability to take football, which is, you know, very complicated, very complicated concepts, different, you know, scheme breakdowns and stuff. And he just puts it so simply. It's like a fucking college professor who is such an expert in their craft explaining some shit to like a first year college student. Like that's how it felt at times. just the ability to break something down into such simple, very understandable terms,

I think that's actually going to translate so well to a media job like that. I'm interested to see if that's kind of how it unfolds. It's exactly what it's going to be because he was talking in like 101 terms. And he also was like real cool. He was like, I want to learn from you guys. You guys are the players like always. Like I like learning from the players. And that's kind of the way he is.

Like I can remember being in New England, him pulling me aside to ask me questions about game planning for the Rams. I'm like, coach, I think he got. this. And he's so detailed-oriented, though. Like, he's such a, in New England, like, he was the one running the show, obviously, and such a, you know, like I hesitate to use a term, like a micromanager, but he just is aware of every single thing that was happening in that building. And I'm interested to see if that's what happens in the media side. But that's what you, what you just said, micro-manager, he's, it would fit if he would be annoying about it, but he's not. He really does

let coaches coach. He lets players play. But when he comes, in, and I used to walk around the field and stop in at different individual periods, he was coaching better than the damn position coaches. You know, all the way down the line, I think any of them would tell you that, except for maybe SCAR. You know, he had something to tell you that you weren't going to hear from your individual coach, which I think is really cool. And then I'll just say this lastly, when he got on the call, the personality, the, you know,

the kind of, first off, like, I don't think he knows how to mute his Zoom. like his uh well his dog did that last time his dog was taking care of the zoom maybe maybe he's got like someone young and tech savvy in his corner he was like riding in the car and like he was like participating in the meeting and doing everything because you know people zoom in from everywhere now on these meetings and you know like there was a point where i don't think he had his his phone off and like you could see everybody in the car and like you know like he i don't think he's tech savvy yet on side, but I cannot wait to see his personality come out because the first meeting, he's busting Ryan Clark's balls about his suits. He's like, he's like, R.C. for Halloween,

I think you should dress in my hoodie and I should wear a fucking three-piece suit with this is going to be great because somebody's going to be busting RC's balls besides me. And I just think it's going to be really cool. It allows me to do my job. When I get up there to talk. I don't want to come across like I got all the answers and I don't. And I think it's really cool and disarming to have somebody that I can be like, hey, coach, what do you think? And defer, because I will always defer to him. You know, I'm going to have my opinions and I'll be delivering the takes. But it's nice when you can look. If you think about football, if anybody had a football question, who's the first person they're asking? Exactly. I get to ask that person questions every week.

And so I think it's awesome. Off camera, on camera. I cannot wait. I just got a call this morning. We're getting ready to do rehearsal. I cannot wait. It's going to be awesome. And I get to work in New Jersey again right there next to Philly at the NFL films,

the house of Steve Sable Belt. And so I'm super psyched to do it again. And I even got some nice suits this year because last year my dress code was a topic of conversation. in the building. And also at home, like my dad would text me like, really good job, Chris, you want my suit guys information? You know, um, and Chris is going for that drip king of the week, maybe. I would say to my dad and anybody else like, hey, if they want me back another fucking year, then I'll buy some suits. But I'm not going to buy a bunch of suits and then get let go this off season. So you won't well-dressed Chris. You extend them. Do you think you're going to come

back with any different hairstyles because there were a couple of players that showed up to training camp with completely. So I was thinking about this before Joe Burrow, because I wouldn't wear the Joe Burrow thing I did in high school once. Me and Kingston, actually. Kingston was part of a group, me and myself and we dyed our hair. And we had the Slim Shady for a couple weeks or a month or two. Your mom actually died our hair.

Yeah, she did. I'm not into the Bradley-Noehl thing as much. but when Jason Kelsey dyed his hair, it kind of looked cool to me. And I'm kind of wondering if I could pull it off and if it makes your hair look thinner than it is. Eertz was rocking that shit too for a little bit. Ertz was rocking it too a little bit.

Kind of remind me that Ryan Gosling. Gosling had that thing going for a little bit. But I'll just say this about Joe Burrow. The minute I saw this, and you know how I feel about big changes in hair or facial hair or any of that, it means that there's something going on with that individual. There's some storm under the surface that we're not seeing,

and it manifests in a slim, shady haircut. I think the NFL should be very afraid because Joe Burrow is going through something. I think all the girls on Raya should be very afraid, Chris. What is that? He's recently single is what my intuition is telling me. big change in hair. What's Raya? Oh, don't worry about it.

Okay. Is that something you use? Not at the moment, but I have historically. You want to tell us about your girlfriend since you say not in the moment? Fuck out of here. It's a, yeah, it's a little bit of a dating app. And I'm hearing buzz on the street is that Joey B might be recently single. What makes-

About shit I don't know about, but I think that's one reason to get a fresh new haircut. What makes it different than, like, bummed? humble. It's for like people with blue check marks. Oh, it's for famous people? Yeah. You're fucking kidding me, dude. Yo, it is. Allegedly, that's what I'm hearing.

It is so easy to get ass now for people. I mean, it's just like, dude. You think for yourself, Chris. Well, I'm married. I just, I just, I just, I think about these guys and like, imagine, being a packer in the 60s. Like you actually had to go out to the bar and work the mouthpiece. And, you know, that's what, uh, that's what those guys were doing back in day.

And now you've got an app where you can just Rihanna's on. You know? Yeah. What the fuck? Joe Burrow, man. He might set the league on fire this year. I don't know so much about the Bengals roster construction. I think there's a couple.

holes, but I think Joe Burrow is ready to set the league on fire because I've seen that haircut. The other thing I saw was the Sequin stuff. And the hard knocks thing with the Giants. Can I talk about that for a second? Because I got a bone to pick. One of my biggest, you know, technological pet peeves, you call somebody up and you start like, let's, this has happened with me and you before. I'll call you up, start dropping a bunch of F bombs, blah, blah, blah. You're like, Bo, I'm in the car. You're on speaker phone and the boys are in the back. Like, stop fucking swearing so much. The first thing that you should do, if you're ever on speaker phones, like, hey, what's up,

Chris, you're on speaker right now. You know what I mean? Imagine being fucking Sequin Barclay and having, you know, an emotional conversation with the GM-year football team that you've played for, you've fucking bled for, you've gone through injuries, you've been a, you know, a loyal and humble servant of the New York Giants. And all of a sudden, you are getting these conversations that you think are private are getting fucking blasted out left right and center i think that would be a very frustrating thing as a player to experience isn't that lawsuit territory i mean i don't know man but it seems to me like a

complete and total breach of trust like you're having very uh important you know financial contract discussions that are being put out one side knows that it's being recorded and one side doesn't know yeah different different state laws by state some require two party consent some require one Is New York a one-party consent state? I think they were probably in New Jersey, so that's a one-party state. I'm not sure about New York. What states are not a two-party consent state? California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada,

New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington. So I kind of wonder if it comes down. We're just spitball in here, but I wonder if it comes down to where Sequin picked up the phone or where Shane, I wonder if Shane like drove to Delaware to make the call. You know, like, and also what was really apparent to me about those calls with Sequin is like,

Joe Shane and him have no relationship. And Joe Shane, and I'm not claiming to know the guy, but I could tell that like he's not a guy who knows how to talk to players. It was just an awkward call. And, you know, obviously there's a lot of baggarten. between both sides there.

But it's just for everything that Seekwans done there, if you're a New York fan and you're mad at Seekwon, like they really could have paid him. This is what happens in today's NFL. If you're not willing to pay a guy, somebody in division might. And some of those like, oh, you don't go play for division rival sort of things. Like, that's out the window. And now you've got to see them twice a year.

And I'm not for nepotism in the front office, in coaching, in really anywhere. Like we've talked about this. It just came up with the LeBron thing. And we talk about a lot with NFL coaches. Joe Shane's kid, though, I think he might be okay. He wants to win now. He wants to win now, dude. I think Giants fans, we want to talk about a coup.

Maybe there should be a coup in New York because I saw Joe Shane's kid like, Dad, you only get this job once. And he's right. He knows that if he gets fired here, there's not going to be like another shot, right? And so I just thought that kid and his honesty was really refreshing. I was actually entertained by that. I think they got to keep family out of the draft, the more room, Chris. I was watching a video about David Tepper's wife.

You were watching a video of David Tepper's wife? Yeah, it was a great video. I'll send you the link. later, but she was, she was consulting in the Panthers draft room, too, and it's like, let the fucking experts work, man. Whoa, whoa, whoa, let the experts work? Not in this situation. Let the GM and the fucking front office work.

How about that? How about the wife and the husband in that circumstance go out to dinner? Who's young? David Tepper's wife, Nicole Tepper. Yeah, just looking at her, I think she probably has just as much football acumen. in as David Tepper. So I got no problem in that situation. But yeah, like it can get a little funny on draft night.

Anything else going on in camp? We had Kirk Cousins rolling up in Atlanta. Is that Steve Smith? Who is that? Yeah, Steve Smith, number eight. Do you think he knew who Steve Smith was before he bought that jersey? Probably. Yeah, we had that outfit laid out, ready to go.

Unlike Max Melton, who bought the, John Skelton jersey in the Arizona Cardinals shop, but didn't know who John Skelton was, and then shut up to camp, and everyone was geeking out over John Skelton return. I thought it was Kevin Cobb. Kevin Cobb. They're selling Kevin Cobb jerseys? Yeah. Still selling Kevin Cobb jerseys.

We sacked Kevin Cobb ten times on Thursday night. I never forgot how the looks on his face when he was getting. We almost killed that guy. I think I got a lot of respect for Kevin Codon. Kevin Cobb. He just kept getting up. But I didn't know there was still selling his jersey down there. That's interesting. What does that speak to? Does that speak to a lack of marketable players on the current roster? Legends never die, Chris. Yeah. Might have just been the most discounted jersey. Yeah, Kirk Cousins, man. Not going to say I haven't dressed like that before, but not the best look.

He's a whole new guy, you know, new wardrobe and everything. Kirk Cousins is like, is like a half step away from being one of these coaches that try to wear a jersey to look for you know what I mean like like Siriotti like when Siriotti wears a jersey like I actually think he pulls that off better in Kirk doesn't so hey real quick before we go what Olympic event are you guys most looking forward to watching because they start today so rugby sevens is already started there's going to be eight of the 12 teams and rugby sevens out by the opening um opening ceremonies i'd like to watch rugby sevens i would like to root am i like a bad guy to root for somebody to beat u sa basketball i just think it's no it'd be fun it's funny you know i think uh i think it's funny i also read an article this morning about like there's some cry or there's a an effort to get motor speed what the fuck what do you call that like cars auto racing auto racing you want to do auto racing at the olympics okay a little pushback here

we haven't fully decided if they're athletes yet number two god rest of soul but imagine if like dick trickle was at the olympic village like did you imagine some of these dumpy looking race car drivers who are they're outside like the olympic village and there's these like hot ass track girls and a bunch of people having sex and, you know, it's like Sodom and Gamora, and these guys are like outside ripping heaters and drinking beer outside the village because they're 50 and white and unathletic. I mean, how hilarious would it be if they made, like, the NASCAR guys go to Paris? I think it would be great, dude.

I'm all for it. Yeah, we need that. That's a proper representation of American athletes right there. For sure, dude. So I'm really excited about breaking. What's breaking? No idea. I always get really into random, the random ones.

So like, I just looked up the schedule for today. Archery. Yeah. Nice. That's a fucking baller, dude. Just, and like handball, I have no, I don't think I've watched a handball game in my entire life, but that's what the Olympics is about, man. You'd be good at handball.

You could play handball on a curve. Dude, it's just like, it's like dodgeball, but with like dodgeball. but with like dodgeball soccer, right? That's what my dad used to say to short guys when we'd meet him, and he'd mean it as like a compliment, but it'd be like a short guy, and he'd be like, you play handball on a curve. I'm like, and the guy's like, oh, cool, what the fuck does that mean?

How long just called me short, maybe? I don't even know what handball is. I'll tell you another one that I like to keep my eye on is modern pentathlon because it's something that I'm convinced I could do. I really do think I could do the modern pentathlon. I think you'd be great at rugby sevens. It's like a quicker-paced rugby. Running way too much.

Hell a bunch of running. Can I tell you something, Reed? You're Mr. Runner? I've logged 12 miles this week. Hey, good deal. Has a 45-pound weight thing? I'm gunning for your resting heart rate. I was going to say, has the resting heart rate come down at all?

Are we in the 30s yet? My rest of heart rate's in the 40s, for sure. But my blood pressure the day was 100 over 65. That's great. Damn. That's great for our upcoming flu togg event, Chris. I love that. Get that training up, baby.

Get some sled pushes in there. Come on now. Yeah, I'll get some sled pushes in. Okay, so, yeah, Olympics, I'll probably watch very little of it, but it's cool to talk about. I just looked it up. Breaking is Olympic breakdancing. Oh, yeah, I'm all in. I like to do the skateboarding, too.

That's fun to watch. No, and you know what's cool. In all honesty, like skateboarding and all this stuff, like I was reading about it. Paris has got some really cool. backdrops for all this stuff. I think that's what makes the Olympics is like a host city that's got cool, you know, venues. And I'm sure they're like, duh, that's what it's all. They have, they have beach volleyball right in front of the Eiffel Tower. That's crazy. I'm so looking forward to that. So I'm not looking for catching up on the highlights of that. We do need to give a shout out to

Carlos Alcaraz, the tennis star. Yeah. Because he's staying in the Olympic Village while Novak Djokovic has decided to stay out of. And he's taking a selfie with probably every female athlete in that Olympic village. So he's a smart guy. He's doing it for his Raya. Martin Truex do the same thing. Oh, one more thing. We started the show with a Harbaugh soundbite. I want to finish it with a John Gannon quote. Cardinals coach John Gannon. Gannon and several members of the staff did a deep dive on the concept of momentum, apparently going back to wars in the 1800s. After all that research, does momentum exist?

Gannon, perhaps, I have no idea. That is Coach 101. Pugh, view shots, phew, shoo! Yeah. And another thing I saw is that the Browns security team does, does drills tackling fans during training camp, which I think is a great thing. Because whenever a streaker comes out there, you think these security people were drunk where they hadn't repped it. So that's a very good thing. Another thing that came up was Bryce Young going viral for looking like a middle schooler arriving at his first day of school.

I was talking to Mina Kimes about this. and she said the funniest thing. She was like, it was really good that he didn't put both hands on his backpack. This is so true. We're going to have plenty more training camp news throughout this whole thing. I'm going to be in Montana, probably another week and a half. And then I'll be headed back to the East Coast to do our inside the NFL rehearsal and get back to work. So there'll be plenty of time to brief, y'all, on the cadence of our shows in the fall.

I know that football season is upon. on us, but stay tuned for all that pertinent information. Bo, thank you for the time, buddy. Appreciate you, Chris. Love you, my Flutog teammate. Hell yeah. We're about to go for the world record. Texans fans, back again with the Texans interview,

this guy is the offensive coordinator of your fine football team down in Houston, Bobby Sloick. I thought he did a great job last year. I'm really excited to see what he does this year with some of the new weapons. I talked to him about Titus Howard, moving back to tackle. I think that's a big deal. I think, you know, Diggs pickup is obviously huge, but so is the mixing pickup.

And he's got one of the deepest receiver rooms in the NFL. Got talked to him about how he might want to use each guy. But more than anything, just a really bright guy who gave us a lot of good intel and information. Love an interview in Texans, loving interviewing Texans coaches. We've had D'Amico, Nick. on as well.

And now Bobby Sloick. So enjoy the interview. And Texans fans, I've asked you guys questions before prompt in these interviews, but the one I want to know today is, and you can leave your answer in the comments, of all the new signings, who are you most excited to see play? And if it's Stefan Diggs, fine. But I know for me, it's some of these defensive pieces. I'm a huge fan of the moves y'all have made on defense.

in no secret. So enjoy Bobby Sloick. I think your team has as good a chance as any in the NFL of being there late in January into February. It's never too soon for a team like yours with a quarterback like yours. So enjoy the interview and like subscribe, tell a friend. If they don't subscribe and they want more Texans content, we serve it up from time to time. So appreciate you all listening watching and come back for more hey y'all green light has official merch like this hat right here like the one on my head is dad hat love this hat i'm not even a dad hat guy but this thing fits great this this hat right here fits great uh we've got hoodies we've got te by the way this hoodie's like super comfy i mean it's like soft plush it's not the type of hoodie that's going to get stiff

with one wash. And the shirts, too, because I'm a big comfort guy, okay? You got, like, this white shirt here. You got the shirt with the logo, the Abbey Road looking logo, with Dr. Fax smoking, presumably a blunt, Kyle carrying Cowboy Reed, making driveling a basketball, which I've never seen him actually do, and me carrying a football.

And then you've got the black shirt here, too, with the logo. So stickers, hit the link in the description in the video. below the video actually and make sure to tag us on social media showing off your green light merch it's quality quality threads here okay wouldn't do it any other way all right this is a treat you know when you watch cj strowb play his rookie year you're like i know the kid is hall of fame good but there's got to be a damn good play caller helping him along the way and that guy is bobby slowick and he is now joining us on the green light pod coach how you doing i'm doing great chris thanks for having me, man, fired up. It's not all that hard to call plays for CJ, man.

Oh, come on. He makes it fun. He makes it fun for everybody. He probably does, but what do you think is the thing about him that stands out to you that makes him not a 22, 23-year-old kid? Because when I watch him, it's apparent to me that he's like a veteran. Yeah, and it ties right to that tireless competitor and worker to the point where and he probably needs to get more sleep. Like, really. He'll be up watching film, and this isn't even game plan time.

And when we're talking right now in training camp, he's sending texts to receivers, to coaches, to everybody from film, of clips of how he wants to make some adjustments, things he's thinking through the course of plays. And it's like 11.30 p.m., man, go to sleep. Go to sleep, CJ. Come on, man. But he just, he works.

And it's endless. He cares a lot. He wants to win at everything. He wants to be the best at everything, which I think you would agree is a common trait with all the guys that become fantastic football players. And he really embraces that, not to mention he's extremely talented on top of all that. Is there a throw he makes that differentiates him, you know, somewhere, you know, is it the way he throws? is the deep ball or is it the way he can, you know, paint the sidelines and it, or is it the, is it the accuracy underneath? What is it that was apparent to you guys earlier? You might have

somebody with special arm talent. Yeah, there's multiple throws that, you know, pretty consistently make us say, wow, but I would say the ones that I very rarely have seen that I just think are special. Or when he throws outside the numbers, past 15 yards, like somewhere between 15 to 20 yards on the sideline, last in the progression, you know, snapping back to it, not when it's number one, that's rare that, you know, someone can do that. And then the ability he has, you know, there's a lot of guys that in the NFL have big arms, can put the ball down the field, 60 plus yards, his ability to do that again, you know,

not necessarily with his feet in the ground and tight pockets. and put it out there accurately with the right ball flight, which I think is something that people don't talk about, that he is very aware of. You know, the ball's not too low. It's not too high. It's just right. Yeah, that's talent.

And that's also work. Like, same as he works on film and scheme. He puts the same work in in the offseason as far as fundamentals of quarterback play, throwing, and all that stuff. Well, that is, isn't it? That's the thing with a deep ball. You know, we talk about, oh, that guy can throw a deep ball. Well, you know, if a guy can throw 60 yards from a clean pocket with two gather steps,

you know, that's one thing. But if a guy can break the pocket and throw off platform, isn't that kind of today's NFL, right? And today's barometer for can this guy throw a deep ball? I mean, that's kind of the way I feel about when I watch CJ play. Yeah. And I think it's what's been fun with him is he can do all of that. And he also recognizes that, you know, there's times to do that. And the more you do that, the less consistent you'll be.

So he's very adept at like, yeah, I know I can make this play. It was the right time to make this play. I let it go. But I know I can't just throw like this all the time because I'm going to miss more than I make, which is him embracing the fundamentals of all the way down to footwork. within the scheme. So more often than not, he can play with the right base

in the ground when he's letting it go, I think shows in his accuracy and his consistency. Do you think that footwork? Because I think you just hit it. I mean, one of the things I noticed right away, he reminded me of burrow, you know, that he reminded me of, and I said this and some people gave me the side eye,

but he reminded me of Brady. Because I think those two guys do such a great job of keeping their eyes downfield and navigate the pocket. I mean, obviously, CJ is a great athlete, but to your point, you don't always have to hit the home run, not with the throw and not with your legs. It's the little movements in the pocket. What makes him so good at feeling the pocket and the footwork that goes with it? Yeah, he embraces it.

It's not easy. I don't think it's easy for any quarterback coming in the NFL. It's one of the biggest differences between the NFL and college is you don't get clean pockets in the NFL. NFL very often, as, as you know. You're going to have to move off your spot or control your spot and navigate to get back to a good base position with the smallest movements possible. And that's what makes it tough. They're not drastic big movements. They're usually small movements to make sure that we just get a window. And there's a lot of drill work that's gone into that with him. There's some of it, obviously, that's innate feel, you know, being able to just periff

pressure and push that's happening. But the time he spent last year in individuals and in training camp that then built into the season, he saw the dividends of as we kept going through the year. And as he kept going through the year, he realizes, yeah, these pockets can get, they can get messy fast. And then he really, you really own that. I love that you use a burrow is a great example. Brady is the best example.

I mean, we watch, we've thrown on and watched Brady. We've watched Breeze. We've watched Peyton, all the old quarterbacks. You could always, I shouldn't call them old. They'll get mad at me. But, yeah. But, you know, the shoe fits. Oh, you said it, not me.

No, but we've thrown on all their film. I think it's always good to take those and learn from those. And Brady was elite at doing that. You know, how he got to the top may be different, but always getting to his launch point in the pocket. and then being able to navigate push and being willing to take what the defense gave him in between his special plays made him an extremely efficient quarterback, you know, and that's something that CJ is really embracing and even right now working through in a very competitive camp.

I love a guy who can climb the pocket. I didn't love it when I played because, you know, the gimmies weren't there as much, but, you know, a guy who can drop to nine and he's going to climb to seven. And he just seems like. that kind of another thing I love about him was I'm sure maybe you heard this but he was on a podcast I don't know how much you watch CJ and his podcasting and kind of like his because I think he's great when he's when he's up there with Mike and that sort of thing but he was talking about Stafford and he lit up you know it's the way I as somebody watches Stafford and all the quarterbacks and

you know I know what Stafford does on a week to week basis but it was apparent to me that CJ watches a lot of guys, like not just preparing for the next week, but as a student, you know, on a macro level. And I thought that was just refreshing. Also, he has good taste in quarterbacks because Stafford was slinging it last year. Oh, yeah. No, he's, he's in the best way possible. He's a football junkie. He will, he will, obviously, he spends a lot of time studying our opponent. He watches, you know, teams that are similar to our scheme, but he's not afraid to branch out and watch other quarterbacks that he knows play the game really well and see what they do and how they command the game and how they operate and what can I what can I grab from this

what what can I learn from this have you been to the dinners you know these these these legendary they're legendary to me because I would have been there every night but supposedly CJ's got guys over at his house and a chef on the regular have you been out he's he's throwing the offer out once, but I've left that, hey man, keep having your teammates over. Having your teammates over. Keep embracing that role. That's a big deal. And it's the other thing.

This part, when he got here, I think came pretty naturally to him. Somewhere along the way when he was grown up, maybe, you know, he had some mentors that really helped him out as far as leadership goes and what it means to be a quarterback. You know, and he's referenced those to me before. But when he got here, that aspect of understanding. everything the position entails and what you have to do for the team. He's he's knocked out of the park. Last year, I felt like, just as an observer, I felt like the Cincinnati game was a huge moment for people evaluating with Texans and CJ and y'all, but I would imagine for you guys,

I mean, like going on the road there playing this guy that I just compared to CJ, right, and Joe Burrow, and the way that game played out, the back and four. the Red Zone moments. Like it was a big boy win on the road in the NFL and he looked just as good as Joe did. Was that a big moment? What was the moment last year where you were like, hey, we could be for real? Yeah, I'd say probably, you know, people might laugh at this. But honestly, on offense, week two, second half against Indianapolis, we were down three

scores, I believe, and got into a situation when we had to go throw the ball. From there on, the way he operated the game and got the ball out and where he got the ball out too and the way our receivers were running routes, like as coaches, you could see like, oh, we got something here. You know, we got something that could be really good. And then I think as players and as the Houston Texans, where it really clicked for everybody was very next week. We played Jacksonville. Week three, we were o' and two, and division opponent, really, really good football team. And we went in there and we played a good game, offense, defense, special teams all the way across the board. And we executed what we needed to execute and played the way when we thought we could play.

And I think that just gave everyone belief that Jacksonville, it was one of the better teams in the NFL. and we can go and when we play the way we know we can play, we can play with anybody. And then from there, you know, we battled for a while. And then Cincinnati was the point where it was like, okay, let's go get into the tournament. That game, we knew we were playing a team. That's a playoff team.

And it got into an absolute dog fight at the end where the players got to go make plays and they did that. And that's really where our focus, this went from, all right, let's compete to, okay, let's make sure we're getting in the playoffs and we got a shot. The Tampa game, too, the second half, the end of that game. I mean, just to be able to say, hey, we got to go get a touchdown with the amount of time you guys had. You know, not a lot to, yeah, for you. Not a lot of teams are able to say, hey, we can go get this done. But what do you learn you and, you know, CJ, because it's your first time.

I'm doing this, going to Baltimore in the playoffs, I feel like every team has to learn, you know, how to win. They have to go through these games. They have to make these runs. You get the indie win the week before, and I thought that was awesome. But then Baltimore is just a juggernaut a little bit, and you get to get that feeling and going on the road and playing a team like that. What do you learn coming out of that that you can apply to this year?

Yeah, you know, we've talked about it already here. actually to start camp. But for us, the big takeaway from the Baltimore game was like it's a great example of how it takes 11. Like every individual play, we had a lot of guys that were doing their job and winning. And most plays somewhere along the way there, there were two or three spots where there was a breakdown, you know. And the spots changed really every series as we went. It just shows how on it you have to be all the way across the board. That's why I think football is so fun, you know, like no one guy can go win a game for

you. You truly need all 11 plus some. The other part of it against Baltimore for us was, you know, penalties really caught up to us that game. And we were moving backwards a whole lot, which didn't help us. So big emphasis for us this year in camp, you know, and like I mentioned, it's been an extremely competitive camp, but we're trying to be on the procedure, you know, making sure that we're as good as we can be and the penalties don't come up as we keep going through the year and then all 11 every play, we want to win our rep. You know, let's play as a good offense altogether and not just as good individuals. And they've embraced that.

And our defense has embraced that. And that's why I think this camp has been as fun as it has so far. The goal for any team is win the Super Bowl. And I think you guys are good enough to do that. But, I mean, I look at when I was in a defensive room, the deep. DC would get up and say, hey, we need to meet these goals as a unit. Like, we need to be on these metrics, whether they were turnovers or red zone or third down. What do you think are the most important goals if you had to set some for your offense that are kind of barometers for progress and being right where you want to be this year?

Yeah, I did that when I was on defense as well. You know, and I think every offense would say the most important thing on first, second down is efficiency. And you got to win third down and you got to win the red zone. I think those are pretty general. But by and large, Chris, actually, we stay away from that. You know, like, hey, we need at least 24 points a game. You know, if you get 24, that's a win, if not that's a loss. And all the way through that, like we really don't get too much into that.

We're very process driven. If you go about your job and your execution and your fundamentals and your technique the right way, then those will take care of itself. We just need to go out every play and we need to play good football. And probably the only one we talk about that's more of a result-driven thought is protecting the ball. Making sure that we're eliminating turnovers, we've got a quarterback who is 100% on board with that and executes it in the game. We talk about it all the time as ball carriers.

That'd be the one, you know, result-driven thing that we endlessly talk about. We can't turn it over. We got to have none. If we have one, it doesn't matter the outcome of the game. Like, we're disappointed in ourselves, but everything else for us is really about the process. Diggs has a reputation. You know, receivers get these reputations. I happen to believe that Diggs, from being around them a couple times, I've always liked them.

And when I watch him, I think a receiver can get called a diva, but it can be because the guy's selfish or because the guy really wants to win, you know, and I feel like Diggs always wants to win, you know, like I feel like that intensity comes from a competitive fire. And I know that, you know, for a young quarterback, that can be hard. You got a great wide receiver. You want to get him the ball. People on the outside might wonder, is this going to disrupt the flow?

CJ seems to me like the kind of guy who can handle that. What do you see? Like when you walk in and you work with Diggs the first couple weeks, I know you don't have the pads on and you guys, it's early, but what's the delta between what you heard about Stefan Diggs and who he actually is? And you see this working out because of C.J's maturity and everything he got going there. Yeah, I've really tried hard to any of the other noise before Steph has got here to. you know, almost, almost erase, delete that from my mind because I really believe in people. And when you get the right type of people and the right type of competitor and the right type of character, you know, you trust everyone's intent.

You can do whatever you need to do. And my experience with Steph and all of us, all of our experience with Steph has been he's exactly that. And truth be told, he's cut from the same vein as a quarterback. They are elite competitors. That is their number one thing. They will do whatever it takes to win. And that's Steph. He wants to be coached.

He wants to be the best version of Steph he could be. He will do anything to do that. And, you know, his growth just within our scheme and his growth in his relationship with CJ and the other wideouts. It's been really fun to watch, even as a leader. You know, we have a wide receiver room right now that's got a lot of guys that can do different things. He's willing to give tips, tricks to Tank to Nico. And he's also willing to listen. You know, if Nico has something, he'll take it.

If Tank has something, he'll take it. If METCHI has something, he'll take it all the way, really all the way through our room. And, you know, he's fit in. I think I said before he's one of us. Yeah. It fits the culture of our team and it fits the culture of what we look for as coaches. I couldn't be happier with what we have going right now. And you look at the wide receiver core.

I know you might not say it, but you got a chance to be the best in the league out there. And you've got Long Strider and Nico. I feel like he just runs away from people. You got Tank Dell who plays big, but he's a little guy, explosive. Mechie stretches the field. Woods is a great leader. You know, he can probably do a lot of different stuff for y'all. But what area of the field?

And I feel like you can access them all because of your arm talent and the guys you're throwing to. But what area of the field do you think Diggs helps in? Yeah, really, I mean, I don't want to give the easy answer. I don't want to give the easy answer and just say all of them, you know. But one thing I think that people underrate with Diggs is how good of a ball and hands player he is. He is a very, very good runner when he has the rock. So I think even just me going into it before he wound up coming here and I was watching the film, I knew he could run routes. I knew he

had elite ball skills down the field for sure. He can track it better than most anyone I've been around. And he knows how to playoff defenders to finish. But I was not. I was not. not expecting what I saw once he caught the ball. And there were a lot of underneath catches he had that I think most receivers in the NFL were probably getting 10 yards on and Steph was taking them to the house or he was taking him for 25 or, you know, it was a throw. He caught at four yards that probably most guys would get six and he got 12. And how big the deal that is for us in this offense, like the difference between second

and four and second and one or, you know, second and seven and first and ten like for us that's everything you know the more we can stay on track we really believe in in what we can do as far as uh being efficient until we can get an explosive so i i really enjoy that part of his game yeah i i feel like he's an extension of the run game in some ways with the quick game and you know you said it i mean he's dangerous with the ball you got another guy uh and i love singletary i thought he was incredible um last year but Joe Mixen being a thousand-yard guy, young, you know, he's played a lot of ball, but he's not 30 yet, getting a ball out of the backfield, like, what does he change for you guys?

Does he allow you to do more in the run game that maybe you couldn't have last year? And how exciting is it to have him on first and second down? Yeah, I'd say schematically with Joe, not a ton changes. You know, there are some things in the past game he could do. that we're going to try to take advantage of that he's done through the course of his career that we're excited to do. But schematically, a lot really won't change. What does change is just the way he runs it, how big he is, how fast he is, how physical he is. And I've always respected him as a player from afar, watching him in Cincinnati.

And now that he's here, similar to Steph, similar to when CJ came in, you see really quickly why he's, he was able to do what he did. We're here in OTAs. And I mean, he's hitting things on the GPS that everyone's like, wow, that's, that's incredible, you know, and it was every day, every day, every day. So he just tirelessly works like the rest of our crew. He's got the right mindset. When we're out on the field, he carries himself well and he's fairly quiet, but he knows

the right time to let everybody know. And he does that well. He has a great feel for when that moment is. He's got a great energy about him. It's been fun. Who do you think is the most underrated guy in your offense? That if he disappeared from the lineup, maybe some fans wouldn't notice, but you would.

I would probably say underrated. That's a tough question. That's a good one. I would probably lean towards right now Dalton Schultz. Yeah. You know, I think what Dalton did for us last year, as far as situational matchups on third down and in the red zone, just enables your quarterback to feel like he has options.

And, you know, when Dalton wasn't playing, that became harder without a doubt schematically. And it became hard. Like, you just got to be on, I had to be on my play calls that much more. And CJ had to be on his execution that much more because we just are, we don't have matchups all the way across the board. when we did when Dalton was in. We have receivers.

We love that part of it, but then you could get a safety or backer on a tight end that you think can separate and has really good hands. There's a lot of different things you can do, and there's a lot of things you do to the defense. You dictate their coverage quite often. And when he's not out there, that gets tougher. Titus Howard, he had to bounce around a lot last year.

Is he more at home at tackle? Are you excited about seeing him back out there? And by the way, maybe a two-part question, is Laramie Tunsell the most underrated offensive lineman in the NFL? I wasn't, it wasn't a rhetorical question when I asked you who was the most underrated guy. But I think even as heralded as Laramie is, I don't hear people talk about him in the class of guys like Trent and like Lane. But he's been really steady over the last decade. Yeah, he's as a past protector, I would say he's probably the best there is in the NFL right now in pass pro i mean he is hard to beat what he did in in our playoff game against

cleveland uh i thought was exceptional we gave him i believe almost no help all game and miles would still line up over there and and we counted on l t to to be able to go block him and he did um and he did well um that i mean his past protection is is really really awesome to watch um and then as Titus, I'm really proud of Titus. I think what he had to go through last year, he had to fight off the injury with the hand, so he lost a lot of time in training camp, missed some of the season,

and then by the time he came back, George Fant, who was playing right tackle for us when he was out, was playing good football, and, you know, we needed inside help badly. And Titus was willing to take that for us. And he went in, and he played guard, and he played guard, you know, good enough for us to go compete and go play. We know that's not his best position.

He knows that's not his best position, but that's what was best for the team. And he was all about it. And he went in and he did it. And then unfortunately, obviously, got hurt. And now I think he definitely is excited to get back out to right tackle to go play. He's done a great job in camp. He's at a good offseason. And for him, kind of like the rest of our group, we're really big into competition here.

That's our number one thing endlessly is compete with your position group, compete with the defense, compete with each other. And he's absolutely, he's bought into that. And he just needs to keep on working. And he's going to be in a really good spot for the season. As I sit here on the couch and I don't have to fight anybody or beat any blocks or be out there in the heat, when I see videos of Stingley and Schultz getting into it at practice, I kind of chuckle. Because I remember those.

But I got to wonder as a coach, like, and I've heard coaches talk. talk about this. Are you a little excited when you see the guys scuffling or you're like, hey, be smart guys, but it means that you guys care? Or do you like Bill Belichick where I was in New England and if a guy fought, they were like, get out of here. You know, you had to go back to the locker room. Like when you see dusts up like that, are you like, hey, we're moving in the right direction? Yeah, I think it's always different. You know, you were. on enough teams. I think, you know, there were years you probably were smiling a little bit when it happened. And there were some other years where, you know, you don't, you don't really need

that. The way this camp has been going and how that's really the big thing for us as coaches, you just want to make sure it's competitive. Like, it is, the NFL is so hard when you go through a season that you need camp to be as competitive as it could be to prepare them for, for what they're going to see those first three weeks of the year. So we don't wind up getting behind eight ball. And that's the big thing. And so far for us, I know I've said it a lot, but it's been a lot of back and forth and a lot of good football. So for us, like we, the way that situation went down, we just need to be smart. Like we can't, if that's a game, I mean, we lost probably like three players ejected right there. That's true. That's a big deal. Coach, hey, yeah, you and you and me,

we would have been walking off the field like, I'm like, hey, coach, that's good. And you just said, Maybe not. I mean, for us and where we're at right now and how we're going about camp, you know, it's a good learning moment for us. Keep being competitive. I got no issue with people barking at each other. I think it's great. Bring the intensity up.

But we also got to be disciplined enough to stay under control. Yeah, no question. I think, you know, you being in San Francisco and we'll wrap up in a second here, but you were there when and they still got them, but there's so many blue chip guys there. And probably watching camp battles had to be incredible. You know, whether it was Trent and Bosa or Fred Warner and Greenlaw running around or Ward and Devo or whoever it is, like you guys are approaching a place where you got a lot of blue chip players. I mean, I think the moves y'all made on defense were incredible. Autry is a great player, hasn't got enough credit.

Hunter, as much as I like Grenard, is an upgrade. And that's just because he's a blue chip guy. There's nobody with his skill set in the league. And Aziz makes a big difference, his range, the whole thing. So when you get into practice, who's making it a pain in the ass for you of the new guys because they're throwing something at you that maybe you hadn't seen yet? Who's a guy that you're excited to watch from the other side, you know, from the sideline on the other unit?

I probably would take too long answering this because I'd be so excited. I could list so many names for you. the front is playing awesome. What the defensive front is doing for our O line is huge. In past pro, how they're challenging us, how much better we've gotten as an offensive front and how we've had to drill it to handle the guys we go against every day in practice has been massive for us as far as developing here,

getting ready for the season. In particular, since, you know, LTs, he hasn't quite been going yet. Titus isn't getting every rep. Shack Mason isn't getting every rep. So for the young guys in particular, and really the depth of our online, it's been fantastic. And you can see the growth. You can see the improvement every day, which has been a lot of fun. I know it's been a lot of fun for CJ going against our defense with Aziz out there, the quarterback of their side.

And you feel his presence really fast, how well he is at communicate or how good he is at communicating, how well he plays the scheme, how much he owns it, things that are really hard to see. The Zies will see and he makes you as a quarterback, you can't miss your office. when it's not there, man, you've got to be disciplined to get the ball out and check it down. Our DBs, you know, Sting is competing every day with our wide outs. Lasseter is competing every day with our wide outs. Probably the guy in the back end that I've had the most fun watching so far has been Petrie. I love him.

Yeah, Petrie's been competing his tail off in the run and pass game. You know, it's not just like, oh, Petri's on us and he's doing a great job in coverage. We got to have, we got to be ready when we go and we block Petrie right now in the run game, which is, which is a credit to him. It's been fun. So it's, there's so many guys on defense that, that have strained us and vice versa. It's, it's been a joy. Last one for you, week 14 by. Do you get a little nauseous when you see that on the schedule?

Is that there? Is that okay? I love it. You like, you like a late guy. I have not had, I've had more. probably just how familiar I am with it, right? I know I've had a lot of seasons where we've had late buys. I've had very few where we have early buys.

Yeah. So just me personally, I'm not, I'm not as used to the early buy. I'm used to the late by. And if the season's going the way you want it to, then it's great. If the season is not going the way you want it to, then it's like every buy, then it's not as fun. So, you know, but, but I'm, I'm, more adept as far as how I handle my own process.

You know, player-wise, I couldn't speak to that. And whenever the by falls, I'll deal with it. But I know how to work my schedule around a lay-by. So I'm good for Texans fans to hear that. Because, you know, we all look at the schedule release and all us armchair coordinators and quarterbacks and so on. We were like, oh, that's late. You know, and for a player, you're like, oh, that's a long way.

It's a long way. Yeah, it's a long way. It does sound like you've got some reps doing that. So, yeah, anyways, coach, we ran out of time. I appreciate you so much coming on and love watching you guys play. I hope you come back on after a big win. And big shout out to Everett, who's always hooking us up with these Texans, coaches and players, Evergirlings, our secret weapon down in Houston.

So shout out to Bobby Sloick, the Texans, and Everett. Thank you so much, Coach. Thanks, Chris. I appreciate it. That was fun, man.