The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian T Smith Talks NFL Draft And Tunsil's Contract Extension

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

is the Matt Thomas Show. 201 on Sports Talk 790, the final hour. The Matt Thomas show begins right now with our weekly Friday visit with our good friend Brian T. Smith. You can find him on Twitter at Cron Brian Smith. He's a league columnist for the Houston Chronicle. You also, Brian T, live in a city where the highest paid offensive linemen in the NFL currently lives, or at least works. I am honored, Matt. I'm honored to cover a franchise like the Texans, and I'm honored to live in a great city of Houston,

where Larry Me Tonsul is being paid like a future annual All-Pro left tackle. I'm sure he'll live up to that. Hey, I'll tell you what, it's good money for him. The Texans had to do it. Four years, prime of his career, making the most money. He'll probably be the highest paid tackle for about a year or so until the next guy's contract. track is up, but this kind of had to be done. So I don't know if there's a whole lot of complaining anybody can do, especially if you indeed had to save every dollar for him and then

tell DeAndre there was no money for you. Yeah, it's all, it's all very interesting, right? And as Bill O'Brien said, a week ago, let it play out. Now, that doesn't mean you can't analyze it while it's going on. And the whole thing is just, it's just a huge. experiment for the Texans and because they are so all in and have been so all in in so many ways it will either work or it will fail and we will know in a couple years with Laramie Tunsell with DeAndre Hopkins with how they are building this team around the Sean Watson let me say this number one you can't complain if you're a devoted Texans fan every day of your life that

that the team isn't investing in the offensive line, spend every hour on radio or Twitter or whatever your medium is, just yelling at the Texans, screaming, barking, complaining on and on. They don't invest in the offensive line. They're not protected to Sean Watson. They went out and did that. Now, have they done the entire line? Do they have the depth they need?

That's still a work in progress. But they have not had a left tackle that they could truly count on since Dwayne Brown. and Dwayne Brown basically got tired of the Houston, Texas. I mean, ultimately, they had to move him. He wanted out. They had a couple off years at that position. They went out and got their guy. They gave up a lot to get him, really a ton to get him.

First round picks, you get stills in the deal. But that was for Tunsel. They didn't trade for Kenny Seals. They traded for Lammy Tunsell. And because of the way they did that, there was no extension at the moment, Matt, when they did that trade, which was right before the season, it was, hey, let's let it play out, the other season goes.

If it all works out, we'll extend you. He had all the leverage in the world. So on one hand, if you're going to pay him that, if you're going to do all that, he's then got to live up to that other part of the bargain. And Laramie Tunsell was good last year. He wasn't great. He wasn't worth $22 million a year. Hopefully he'll start looking up to it.

The only thing we got to worry about, look, I've never worried about what a guy makes. but in the world of a salary cap, which the NFL has, every dollar is accounted for. And if you're going to have a player on your team making the most money at his position, not only on that team, but in the entire league, then the microscopes on him. If he kicks ass and protects Deshawn and he doesn't hurt, then we're not going to care if he made $22 million a year or $25 or $28 million a year. But if there's any exposure, that's when people start to say, you're paying this for that. So A, good for him.

B, Brian, somebody's got to make the most of somebody. And it does show the Texans do value that left tackle spot because not only they spent a lot of money on it, but they gave away a lot of their future for it too. So it's all in on Laramie Tunsell and he's got four years to make that, make the general manager look like a smart guy. That's exactly it, Matt. And, you know, but they're all pieces. I mean, you have a hard cap. You can move money around.

you can massage things, but ultimately it is a hard cap. And so from a fan's perspective, you chose not, going off of your words, the Texans words, you chose not to pay DeAndre Hopkins a few million more dollars a year. You moved on. You used part of that money, Randall Cobb, Brandon Cooks, David Johnson. So now you are paying J.J. Watt, annual all pro money, and J.J. Watt, the last three or four years on the field, has not lived up. that, hopefully he has a bounce back year.

He's been pretty incredible before. He's at a crossroads in his career, but you're paying JJ Watt annual all pro money. You're paying Larry Monsal annual all pro money. You just traded the way D'Andre Hopkins, and at some point, Matt, before the NFL played this next game, every indication is, and we've been

saying this for a year in the Chronicle, Deshawn Watson's going to get paid. Deshawn Watson is going to get paid like Patrick Brougham's gets paid $40 million a year. So you're going to have Watson, and Kuntle making major, major money. And if you're the Texans and you're Bill O'Brien,

your Jack Easterby, you're Cal McMair, you're that organization, you have to hope that that that vision works out, that if you're going to stick a lot, he bounces back, counsel gets even better, and you can count on him for years. Because if you get it wrong

and you're paying the wrong guys, exactly. That's when people really start looking at those contracts. And it all ties into Bill O'Brien and the organization. I mean, he's not just a coach. He's the coach and the general manager. He more than anyone chose to trade for Laramie Poncell, chose to trade away Jeddevin Clowney.

They're invested in their guys. We'll see if it pays off. Brian T. Smith with us here on the program. Okay. So, Brian, the coach decided he, in the last couple weeks, to soft play this draft. No TAs, no rookie minning camp, distancing, no opportunity to visit with these guys and have them work out on their facilities. So if he's downplaying this draft, should we really be overly concerned what they do at 40, knowing that the chances of who matter, no matter if they need a defensive line, which they do,

no matter if they need secondary help, which they do, that that person, whoever's drafted at 40, probably isn't going to make a huge impact at least in 2020. Can you have that notion or do you say, you know what? Because of what you've done and get rid of your first rounders, you better do it. a damn good job of trying to find value at number 40 in that pick. If that was buy or pass, I buy on the latter. Hard pass, Matt, on the first part. I know you're just throwing that out.

Yeah. And it makes your fun radio. I don't believe that at all. You chose to trade away your, all these things are connected, right? It's like some conspiracy movie. Everything is connected, especially in the NFL. Bill Belichick will tell you that. Any of the best, Andy Reid would tell you that.

if you trade away your first round picks for Laramie consul and then you're forced to pay him $22 million, you have to hope that works. And if you are going to make the DeAndre Hopkins trade and you end up with 40 and you sign Brandon Cooks, you have to make 40 work. Just like you have to make your first round picks work or your second or your third.

And those things ultimately define organizations, just like getting the right quarterback, which they did with Deshawn Watson. And every indication is that. That's far, you know, when you look at, that Watson and Mahomes, the home's a little better. Deshawn Watson should be leading to Texans for the next 10 to 15 years. You've got your quarterback right.

But if you're sitting there at 40, no, it's a very important pick. Maybe it's a running back. Maybe it's Dobbins. Maybe somebody slides. Maybe it is a defensive end. Maybe it's a cornerback. Maybe it's a safety. They have holes.

Their defense doesn't floor me at all right now. And on paper, it feels like it took a step back. I get the whole idea. It's coronavirus. You can't work out. But Matt, it's a level playing field. Everybody's dealing with the same exact thing. So someone else is going to make the 39th pick work, the 41st pick work,

someone else is going to get a huge contribution that helps toward a playoff berth from a third rounder. No excuses for the Texans. They are all in. They're not making excuses for themselves. They need to get 40 right. Problem is, so we just ran through the list of 40 last hour. Brian, it's a very pedestrian number, to be honest with you. It's not.

There are very few impactful players. It almost always is. Yep. So, you know, again, I have such limited. I know there's going to be people around that are either talking about the team or screaming, going, man, all the Texans cards lined up perfectly, and now they're going to have this, they're going to have. Ray, right, right, right.

I don't buy it because I guarantee you, if I went back and looked at the last 10 years of teams picking it number 40 going, man, you wouldn't believe the value we got. Like, we figured it out, seven of the 10 guys didn't even last five years in the league. Two of them were decent. One was average. I mean, it's far from now. You could say 33, you know, on the outside looking in. But 40s are pretty decent.

And then on top of that, they don't pick again until 90s. So you're going deep in the third round. So that's why, again, I have such minimal expectations because Bill O'Brien, through his actions, have said, I'd rather have players I know as compared to players I might have to coach up. Yeah, part of that, though, is they believe the only way that they were going to get a left tackle that they could truly count on that could replace Dwayne Brown wasn't, I mean, because they would have been the top 10. And they weren't going to be in the top 10 because they were in the 9 to 7 to 10 and 6 land, right? So they believed, hey, we're going to give a first round pick or two first round picks, but we're going to get Laramie Tunsel. And you would have to luck out in the top 10 to get a Laramie Tunsel.

But at the same time, Matt, look at Tennessee, look at, you know, Kansas City. Look at the best organization. I'm not putting the Titans up there yet. But look at the best organizations the last few years. The Texans are close. But those organizations, you don't have to hit on every round. Nobody does that.

And that's why so much of the draft is utter made for TV, made for Internet, BS. But historically 40, maybe not that great. 35, 42, you can still pull. a reliable, you know, yearly player. Look at DJ Reader for the Texan. Look at Jimmy Garapolo, Teddy Bridgewater. Right. Those areas, if you are a well-run organization,

you should be able to pull, especially if you're going to go in this heavy, giving away your first round picks. I'm sorry, you need to make 40 work for you because if not, that's going to be holding you back. You went so all in on potentially Watt Watson and Laramie Kuntil, but you're going to be lacking depth, and they don't have a first-round pick again next year, Matt.

All right, so now let's move forward to Deshaun. Is he happy that Laramie got locked up, which then means he's really legitimately only Canada that could be franchise tagged in a couple of years if they can't kind of agreement. But it feels like they're going to figure out a way to make sure their franchise quarterback has a deal signed very close to what Pat Mahomes gets provided once he gets his contract done.

Yeah, I think all this, again, it's so fascinating. I mean, we've been through, so much, I've been here for a decade now, but, you know, we've been through so much for the Texans, and then you look at the Astros and their contracts, free sign-sailing scandal, right, Al-Tube, Bregman, you look at the Rockets and Hardin and some of these situations, but we have not ever had a franchise quarterback who you really want to invest in, who the fans believed in, who you wanted to keep for the next 10 years. The Texans have never had that. Matt Schaub was a veteran, you know,

by the time he came along and he was traded for and not like he was a top you know 12 pick the texas never had that before if i'm the shaw watson and more importantly if i'm his people you're looking at that tonsul trade i mean it's the tonsal deal and you're saying you gave laramie tonsul 22 million a year j j wats making 15 million year what am i worth i i'm worth double what Laramie Tunsell's make. And obviously it won't work like that. Mahomes will set the market. Whether Watson

gets his deal first and Mahom gets his deal first, if I'm to Sean Watson's people and obviously they don't pay me to advise the Sean Watson, I'm not doing a deal until Patrick Mahomes signs his deal because Mahomes is going to set the table for the entire league.

You have tonsil. This is pretty simple. At 22, if Mahomes comes in at 41, 42, it's a no-brainer. You owe to Sean Watson $40 million a year, and that's probably where it'll come in. But if I miss people, I play hardball with the Texans, and then you find the compromise because he's not going anywhere, and they want him, and he's never said a bad thing about the organization.

But I think it's going to be interesting as this plays out. Maybe it'll take a while. Maybe it won't. But again, it feels like Deshaun Watson has, the leverage that the Texans don't. I got 60 seconds here. I want to make sure you know that I know the Houston Astros 100% cheated.

100% deserve the penalties they deserved. So I'm not trying to play City versus City. I'm just telling you the Astros cheated. They'll be permanently staying because of that. I think baseball gave a ridiculously lean, lean penalty to our friends in Boston, Massachusetts. Here's the problem. I don't disagree with any of that. I wrote that in the Chronicle. The problem is they don't have, this is this factor in the Astros, Matt. They didn't have subpoena power. They're not the federal government.

They have to grant immunity to the players. And Matt, if the players don't talk, if they don't have a Mike fires, if they don't have a true smoking gun to really ignite things and put people in a corner, if they don't have anything, they can't do anything. That's why it was just the Watkins guy. they didn't have enough. It took two athletic reports. They did have a Pulitzer, by the way, Ken Rosenthal and Evangirling. It took two athletic reports, Matt, for Major League Baseball to get off its ass and do anything. And you can't tell me there weren't other teams doing it. They're not the anomalies. But if they don't have the goods, they can't prosecute them. And that's what it looks like for the Red Sox.

They had enough on the Astros. They didn't on the Red Sox. Well, I'm certainly glad, BTS that Alex Corr is relieved that he did not have to face any further penalty. Alex, Alex, who is a joke. His beloved Red Sox, the team you managed, did everything on the up and up. BTS, have a great weekend. Stay safe.

We'll talk to you again next week. Thanks a lot, Matt. You got it. Brian T. Smith from The Chronicle with us. 2.16 is our time. 15 minutes away from the Fantasy 5. Songs and involve booze. It's Sports Talk 790.