The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Aaron Reiss: Keep An Eye On Fuller & Stills At The Trade Deadline

Episode Date: October 20, 2020

Aaron Reiss: Keep An Eye On Fuller & Stills At The Trade Deadline

Hart and open for three and he hits it. This is James Harvey. Wowing the crowd here at Toyota Center. Sports Talk, 790 is your home for Rockets Basketball. Every Tuesday at 1.30, we spend 10 quality minutes with our friend Aaron Reese from the Athletic. That's a fantastic job on the Texans. All right, Aaron, let's get it out of the way early. What was your take on Romeo Crenel's decision to go for two points?

I thought it was totally the right decision without question. The defense is really bad. The defense benefited already from two turnovers. I think that the chance that they were going to realistically make another stop was pretty low. And I'd rather Deshaun Watson get me two yards than trust that defense to stop the Tennessee tithes. You know what? The end of the day, and people try to over discuss it, I'm sure, and talk ready to the last couple days. This show certainly has done it.

if the two-point conversion is made, the Texans win the game. And look where we've been, Aaron. They win the game. They've won two straight in the division and confidence with a new coach, at least on an interim basis, is high. Instead, it goes from that to a loss to Green Bay is coming in here. And Green Bay will probably be pissed because they play so poorly against Tampa Bay. The pendulum swings massively off of the decision of what happened in the game.

on Sunday? No, it totally does. But I still, again, you know, I just think, like, Tennessee is obviously the better team. Cornell had that detections and an inferior team and a chance to win on the road. And it came down to basically letting your best player get two yards. I would, you know, I would take that every time. And when I was watching the game and they were starting to make this comeback in the

second half, at that same time, I think Indianapolis was still losing to Cincinnati, or at least it was close. And I was thinking, you know, not only if they win, this game, the 2-0 in the division, all the things like you mentioned. But also, if Indy loses, suddenly, like, they're right in the thick of it in this division. And so that would have been pretty remarkable. But, you know, with this loss, obviously, the playoffs now are totally out of the picture. Aaron, we were concerned about the Texans defense going into the season.

And I don't remember. Was the run defense what concerned you most or anything else? I always thought it was about pass rush and the secondary. Are they even underperforming even more than you thought would have been than you would have originally thought with their run game so far? Yeah, you know, I thought they would at least be a little bit better on the run game just because they have McKinney and Cunningham, who, you know, kind of could at least limit a lot of explosive runs, you know, kind of keep things from getting to the second level.

But, you know, those guys have, I mean, McKinney's obviously out, but also, you know, I think that coming in him has kind of underperformed a little bit. You seem to be out of position on that 94-yard run or whatever it was that Eric Henry had. So, you know, I think kind of those things combined her and, you know, you know, choosing not to find DJ Reader and instead give Whitney Mercilus the big contract that Mercilus got. That seems like a bit of a mistake now, too. And the new general manager is going to have to clean this up. The Texans, I don't think, have done this yet, and maybe you know,

have they given any sort of timeline about when they're going to start talking to people? Do they want to wait at the end of the season? Do they want to start kicking the tires now? When do you think we'll start hearing some names pop up? You know, I mean, I know from that they kind of said it will start get going here. a few weeks rather than, but I mean, realistically, the search won't really, really get going until the season is over. And then, you know, they can obviously interview all the relevant candidates, you know. And I mean, GM will come first, of course, like Kahnler said.

What do you think about this search firm again being in charge of it? Yeah, it's interesting. I never understand the, I never understand the search firms, I think. I guess they find out, you know, they can find out some more things that could be negative or, you know, things that you want to find out now rather than down the line. But for the most part, it's like, I mean, are they going to tell the Texans about some coach they haven't heard of? You know, I just, I don't really kind of get the point of it. And there's been, like, good stories I've read about kind of the way the industry

is set up, but it just seems kind of like a little bit of hogwash. But that's what the issue's going to do again. Yeah. Again, I have a problem with the name of the firm, Corn Ferry. I mean, it just didn't even sound right. Yeah, yeah. Not that I should really be worried about search firms. Let me ask you this question.

And if you don't know the answer, that's okay, too. Who is the smartest football mind right now in the Texans front office? Oh, man. I mean, I don't know. I guess we'll find out. I mean, they would seem to think it's Jack Easterby, right? They're letting him kind of run the whole thing. And he had his hands in so many departments so they think he can make a difference in a lot of other areas.

You know, I mean, I imagine from a personnel side in terms of someone who's considering what of the moves they could make. kept a trade deadline or guys that could pick up and try to find some gems to the future, that would be the director of player personnel, Matt Bazaridgeon. Those are kind of the two guys at the top now. Do you know much about either one of those guys? Do they make him public available to the media occasionally or not at all? What do you know about those guys? I mean, Jack has talked to media a little bit, yeah. And Bavisagin, no, he's never been made publicly available to the media. He worked with the Jets for a long time, and he came over here under Brian Gain.

So, you know, even after game left, he survived, obviously, and then now he's dealing with another regime change. Because I'm very curious if Jack Easterby, we already know, has very limited in-house football experience. He may be the greatest deacon in the world. He may be a character guy. He may be able to sort through that. But I think you need a real good football mind.

And I don't know if Jack Easterby has the case. As a matter of fact, I don't know. I know for a fact, he doesn't have the capability to decide whether or not the guy coming in here knows his real football acumen. I think he probably knows what he's like in terms of a people person. But to have such an inexperienced football guy trying to hire a football guy, I don't like this recipe. Yeah, you know, it's interesting.

I mean, I do think there's probably, sometimes I've wondered and based on things I've read, like, does the character coach title not kind of explain everything he was involved in in New England? Because people say, you know, he was doing a million things and working with Belichick. And so I don't know if you're just around the environment, you pick up on a lot, you know, working under the greatest coach ever. Certainly the Belichick tree has generally not been very fruitful. But, you know, I do what I will find curious about kind of this hiring and the influence Jack has on it is, you know, he obviously was kind of part with O'Brien and a lot of these team building philosophies that got them to where they are, right? So are they going to continue to kind of value running backs in the way that they have?

Are they going to continue to think, you know, trading for picks is the move, you know, Those sorts of things. I'll be very curious to see kind of what the priorities are placed in the search and how that might connect to Jack. A few more minutes here with Aaron Reese and the Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter, Aaron and J. Reese. Aaron, we've been spending a couple days kind of goofing around about the trade deadline coming up in early November. I think they should absolutely see if there's any interest for J.J. Wad. Do you think that's preposterous or do you think that's a relevant name that could be out there in the next month or so, especially this team really continues to fall the way they are?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think logically from like the reporter perspective, yeah, I totally think they should do it. You know, I mean, his value is going to be higher now than it would be if you traded them in the offseason when, you know, it's just more time left on the contract, right? A team could, that wants to go get the things that can win this year, be a good guy to pick up at the deadline, you know, even his hometown Green Bay Packers who needs a defense of line help. But I just think that realistically that probably is not, not the guy they move at the deadline.

A few factors for that, one being, I think that that's probably just something that Cal McNair has to sign off on and maybe it would feel more comfortable signing off on if, with a new GM, you know, full leeway and kind of a long leash with the fan base. And additionally, I just think it's kind of an unceremonious way to part with the face

of the franchise like that. So I would imagine they probably wouldn't do that mid-season. Not to mention the uncertainty with the draft coming up and so what the value of the pick they got would be now versus next year. So to me, the guys who are more worth watching the trade deadline are probably Will Fuller and Kenny Stills. Hmm.

Will Fuller and Kenny Stills. How interesting on that. Will Fuller has had a really good season. I'm surprised that you brought that name up. Well, he has, right? But, I mean, I think that it's kind of curious because obviously the position he's in to be in a contract year, it's tied to the fact that he's had all these injury issues, right? They haven't wanted to commit to him long term.

You know, maybe if you're Jackie sure, you feel like it's worth holding on to him because you're at least probably going to get a third round comp pick for them if you walk in for agency. Assuming their taxes don't want to retain them, I think if Jack Easterby at least saw those really good move to retain them, they maybe would have done so before this season. Maybe the next GM feels differently. But I think if you could get more than that third round compick or like a third round pick plus maybe some conditional, if he stays healthy with the next team or something, that's something I would consider. And it's not just a matter of getting the third round pick.

It's that you could get the third-round pick in 2021 when they won't have first in second-ground picks because of the tuntle trade versus in 2020 when your cupboard is more full and you have your full-storming picks. Okay. Lastly, Green Bay played an awful football game against Tampa Bay. You were busy writing the story for the athletic. What are your thoughts about Aaron Rogers coming to here with a bad attitude after a very poor performance?

Oh, I mean, I think it's going to be really ugly for sure. But I do think, you know, we have a chance for another shootout. You know, Deshaun's lots of numbers over the past three weeks have been incredible. I would argue he's playing with best footballers is great even if the record doesn't reflect it. And, you know, the Green Bay defense has not been tremendous. So I think there's a chance that the Texans can hang with them. But I think ultimately it's going to be a really big day for Aaron Jones, really bad day for the Texans' front defense. Well, leave it that, my friend.

Thank you very much the time. Look forward to reading your stuff on The Athletic. It's a great subscription. You should buy it and follow him on Twitter, Aaron, and Aaron J. Thanks, Aaron. We'll talk again next Tuesday. Thanks, Matt. You got it. It's Aaron Reese from The Athletic with us here on the Matt Thomas show.