zshawn10
All Pro
There wasn't a BOB thread so I am going to post this here; BOB and Schefter on a podcast together:
http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=26437179
How do you like this time of the year compared to some of the others?
I love it. You’re able to sit down with guys, get to know them, go to colleges, see how they’re doing things, meet guys at the colleges and then bring them into your organization. It’s all about the team building process. When we get back from this, we’ll have draft meetings – coaching staff, scouting staff coming together on what we feel is best for the team relative to what we’ve seen. I think it’s a great time of the year. A lot of fun.
Free Agency was tough for the Houston Texans. How would you assess where your secondary is coming out of free agency, into the draft?
It’s tough to lose those two guys. Kareem spent his whole career in Houston. Did a lot for us. Great teammate but that’s free agency. Denver had a really good offer & he took it. Honey Badger came in one year, did a great job. Great in the locker room. Good guy. Had a great opportunity with the Kansas City Chiefs. Here’s Plan A. We’ll try to get these guys back. If not, here’s where we’ll go. It’s not like this plan is worst than that plan. There’s a lot of good players out there. We felt good about our study of Bradley Roby being able to come in & do some things he did in Denver. Man to man coverage, outside corner, inside corner some if we need him there. Had a lot of good reports on him & were able to sign him to a one-year deal. Tashaun Gipson, we studied him a lot having gone against him. Covers tight ends man to man, played deep part of the field, play down in the box. We feel we added a safety who can help us. We feel pretty good about where we’re at.
How hard is it to lose guys though…Kareem was something of a cornerstone for the franchise. Honey Badger came in. To lose guys like this & have to replace them. It’s like college I guess where guys graduate.
It is. It’s tough. Someone inside asked me about that. I get pretty attached to the players. I really enjoy coaching those guys. You have a lot of great moments in the locker room, in the meeting rooms, on the practice field & obviously in the games we won but that’s part of pro football. You look at where you’re at from a cap standpoint, what you can do, what you feel the value of the player is relative to your team and do the best job you can to make the best decision for the team and that’s what we’ve tried to do.
One places you also have to plug a hole so to speak is at WR. Lose Demaryius Thomas, suffered the injury to Will Fuller. DeAndre Hopkins, seems like you’re perpetually looking for another guy there & Keke Coutee struggled with hamstring injuries. What do you do opposite DeAndre Hopkins?
That’s a big deal. When those 3 guys – Hop/Fuller/Coutee – when they were on the field together, which wasn’t often but when on the field at the same time, it was a productive offense. Averaged over 30 points per game. They did a great job working on their chemistry with Deshaun and all those things. Injuries are not an excuse but those things happen. Will is on the way back. We feel really good about where Will is right now. We feel really good about where Coutee is. Coutee last year was training for the combine, came in, hadn’t played football for in awhile, had some hamstring issues he didn’t have in college. We’ve tried to fix it on our side. He’s fixing with himself. He’s in a better place right now. I think he’ll really help us. Fuller is on the right track. We’ll see what goes on in the draft. We have some good young guys behind those guys we feel good about – the 4s, the 5s that we think can help us.
Does Fuller have a chance to be ready by training camp?
I think so. I really do. There’s a chance for that. I won’t put a date on it. With the way he’s progressing & working, he has a shot.
If you have those three, you should be pretty set.
It’s a good position but there are some unknowns. I do feel good having seen these guys over the last month or so around the building, specifically Coutee & Fuller. I feel good about where they’re at.
What is Deshaun Watson’s ceiling?
I don’t think he has a ceiling Adam. It’s hard to put a ceiling on a guy like that because of who he is, how he works, his ability, his skill set, his passion for the game. Really fun guy to coach. Works very hard to learn the game. There’s a lot of things he can do to improve. He knows that. We know that. We’ll try to improve some things around him. He’s working hard to improve his knowledge of defense, improve his mechanics, the way he processes information, all those things. I don’t think there’s a ceiling for him.
When you go back to that day he tore his ACL in practice, your team was rolling along. What do you remember about that day?
Yeah, we were doing pretty well. Tough day. That was a tough day. We were practicing. He was running a simple little play, bootleg type play out to his right, planted, no one around him and he came back and said something clicked there, didn’t feel right. We took him right away for a MRI and that was it. That was tough. As you said, we were very productive, exciting, moving in the right direction. It was tough to overcome that loss. We had other guys injured too. If you look forward to where we are now, he’s had a full offseason of no limitations, full go, can do everything. Last year, that wasn’t the case. He’ll have a full offseason, which will be big.
How much of a difference will that make?
It makes a big difference. Last year, all he could do was 7-on-7. No 11-on-11. He did a little bit. Then we played him a little bit in games to try and get him back in the routine of playing in games. I think he’ll be able to do a lot more this year and that’ll help us with the timing of the passing game, with his improvement individually & will help our team to have him out there every day.
How much longer do you think Tom Brady will wind up playing football?
There’s no way I’m putting a limit on that one. The guy has defied the odds. I guess never say never but I don’t know if it’ll ever be done again, what he’s done. To play at that level for so long & be in his 40s and having another great season last year, it’s incredible. When I was there, I was fortunate enough to be around him, coach him, work with him and he does everything the right way. He takes care of his body the right way. He’s a great teammate. He works his ass off on the practice field and off the field. I don’t know. I have no idea. I hope it’s soon. It’s amazing. It’s hard to describe what he’s been able to do. When you’re around him, it’s interesting, people say can you believe it? No, I can believe it. I’ve been around him. He’s the best. He’s a great guy. Very smart. He works hard. He knows how to take care of his body & knows what he needs to do to be able to play. He loves playing.
Memory of Rob Gronkowski?
I have great memories of Rob. I had Rob his first two years. He was a great guy. When he walked into the building, the building literally lit up. He had great energy. Awesome sense of humor. Great relationship with Bill. We loved coaching him. Tom loved him right away. The team did. He had a way about him that was interesting & everyone loved it. Then the skill set. When on the practice field, the catch radius, ability to run, his flexibility, his instincts & brought a level of toughness to our team because he could block the edge. He’s the total package at that position.
Last we’ve seen of him?
I don’t know. 29 years old. Knowing him for the first 2 years, he’ll miss it. He loves it. Loves being in the locker room. That’s what these guys miss. They miss the teammates & day to day routines. It’ll be interesting. When these guys retire, you can tell they miss the game because they miss the relationships. I can see him getting itchy & coming back.
http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=26437179
