Texans tight end Dalton Schultz spoke on why this offense in 2024 could be even more explosive than in 2023.
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00:00You probably won't see the ones, but you'll get to see some of this offense that looks
00:05like it's going to be one of the best in the league.
00:08A lot of people, both locally and at the national level, have high expectations for the Texans
00:16offense.
00:17Here's Dalton Schultz talking about why he thinks this offense could be even more explosive
00:26than it was last year.
00:28Whenever you have vertical threats, teams drop deeper.
00:33Linebackers, now their hook drops are 12 yards instead of 8.
00:37It affects everything.
00:39When they feel that vertical push, the guys are trying to stay on top.
00:43When you've got two burners, when you add Nico to that mix, the three guys can stretch
00:47the field, man.
00:49It opens up stuff underneath sometimes in certain coverages.
00:52Honestly, it creates space for us in the backs.
00:56I love having it because playing our defense is hard in practice because they're in your
01:01hip all the time, whether they're zone or man.
01:03It's frustrating.
01:05You get to some games, and teams are just spot drop, and you feel that space.
01:10It's very beneficial, for sure.
01:12Why did that get you so football-horned?
01:18Because it's real.
01:19It's spot on.
01:20It's from a player that's inside the locker room that knows the playbook like the back
01:24of his hand, and is a very, very good pass-catching tight end.
01:28First of all, the source, I think, makes it real.
01:31It just confirms a lot of what, hell, we talked about yesterday, to be honest, where your
01:34team's defenses won't be able to suffocate this offense the way that they did at times
01:38last year.
01:39You can think back to the Atlanta game and how they treated this offense and ended up
01:43winning that ballgame.
01:44Nonetheless, the source, I think, is huge.
01:48It confirms some of the conversations that we've had over the last couple of days.
01:52I think if you ... We've talked a lot about Diggs.
01:56We've talked a lot about Laramie Tunsil.
01:57We've talked a lot about C.J. Stroud.
01:59We've talked a lot about Joe Mixon, and all these pieces that they're adding.
02:02It really doesn't mean a damn thing.
02:06You look at the team as a whole, the offense as a whole, and what happens because you added
02:12those players, in particular, we're talking about Diggs, and the emergence of Tank Dell
02:16and Nico Collins.
02:17What happens?
02:18What does it mean?
02:20What does it mean?
02:21We can sit here and talk about, well, defenses don't have the ability to suffocate the Texans
02:25the way that they did last year.
02:26What does that mean?
02:27Dalton Schultz just told you.
02:30Not only did Dalton Schultz just tell you that the threat of those three guys and how
02:34explosive they are is going to force not only safeties back, defensive coordinators to plan
02:40and keep safeties back, but you're middle of the road to bad teams in this league are
02:47literally going to do what he said and spot drop at 12 yards instead of eight and just
02:51give Dalton Schultz those underneath catches.
02:55The other reason is because we as fans can watch the games and we can see exactly what
02:59Dalton Schultz is talking about.
03:01From the Hall of Fame game against the Bears, all the way up to this last preseason game
03:07against the Giants, the tight ends have absolutely ate with that first unit.
03:13Him and Brevin.
03:14Tegan Quattoriano, remember Tegan and what's my Kate Stover, Kate Stover, I mean, all those
03:19guys were just like, and these are preseason games.
03:22So like I said, the Hall of Fame game was very vanilla, but the point is very, very
03:27valid.
03:28And I just think when it's coming from inside the walls from a player that's actually executing
03:33it all, I think it's big, man.
03:38It's really big.
03:39That is what all the conversations about the added weapons and yada, yada, yada, all the
03:44year two in Bobby Slowick's offense.
03:46What does it mean?
03:47What does it matter is exactly what he just said.
03:50There is so much space underneath for the tight end.
03:53You're either going to take a ton of risk and put these put DBS on an island with either
03:57Nico tank or, or, or digs, or you're going to play soft as hell and just give them like
04:03just play catch underneath with, with, with your, your tight ends, your running backs
04:07and your underneath receivers.
04:08And so it's just the real of it.
04:11And the source of it, Ron is big.
04:14Well, as we know, and I think the league knows that CJ also he's big play.
04:21Like he'll take, he'll take what he needs to take, but he is also not afraid of going
04:25for the big play.
04:27And with that threat of the guys on the outside and his willingness to go downfield and, and,
04:34and try to get the big play opens up all of that space in the, in the middle of the field.
04:41And it is because, you know, teams are going to go into this saying, I'm gonna, all right,
04:47we're just not going to let you get big plays on us.
04:49Like we're, we're, we're not going to get you where you, you're going to kill us.
04:53You're going to have to, you're going to have to methodically work yourself down the field.
04:56We're not going to just give up big, big plays.
05:00And I think CJ is a key to that one.
05:02He is, he, he will damn sure threatened the ball down the field, but to CJ ain't forcing
05:10it.
05:11At least that's what we've seen in his first year.
05:13He will certainly take all of that stuff and, and Dalton Schultz can eat, but in particular
05:19with Brevin Jordan, he's, he's one, he's one move from being out the gates and that like,
05:27yeah, he's getting, he's getting some, some cushion.
05:31We saw it last year.
05:32I mean, he's, he's, I'm not saying he's going to go for 70, but he is a big play away waiting
05:37to happen with all of that extra space that he has.
05:40So you think about Joe Mixon too, is really good in the past game.
05:43I mean, we've seen cam acres be effective in the past game.
05:46Brevin Jordan, you mentioned Dalton Schultz.
05:48You mentioned, I mean, Cade Stover has been really, really good.
05:50So I mean, it's just one of those deals, man, where when you look at it, it's, it's just
05:55so simple, but that's, that's the beauty of football, man.
05:59If you get the, if you get guys that are that explosive and you've got a quarterback that'll
06:03just be patient and commit to taking that, what he calls boring stuff, man, it can be
06:08powerful.
06:09Now there's another conversation to be had.
06:10I know right now is not the time.
06:11There's another, another conversation to be had off of, uh, off adult and Schultz comments.
06:16Uh, if it, if it opens it up that much for the underneath tight ends and running back,
06:20it was like, this is a conversation we've been kind of having about that run game, right?
06:24I mean, it's, it's proof and it's, and it's, uh, like real substance to say, well, this
06:30offensive line that you've invested so much money in should have, should, should, should,
06:34should benefit from that same thing that the tight ends and the underneath routes do.
06:37So, um, well, we, that, that, that needs to be had as well.