The Texans traded Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders for draft picks. The Drive's Clint Stoerner likes the move, saying it's the boldest Houston could make to show it's serious about improving the offensive line.
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00:00Houston, this is this is a big time big time move. This is
00:03going to be couched more than likely as a great move for the
00:07Washington commanders to get the needed much needed protection
00:10for Jaden Daniels. And that's great. That's great that let
00:13let them have that up there. I'm gonna tell you right now. For
00:18me. This is a win now move for the Houston Texans. Getting out
00:25of the Laramie Tunsil business is the biggest boldest move that
00:28Nick Asario and D'Amico Ryan's can make to show how serious
00:31they are about fixing the old line about setting a championship
00:37and about on his new, their new OC and O-line coach to do their
00:41jobs with no exceptions made baby. This is big. This is a big
00:45time move for the Texans. And we'll see how they how they end
00:49up going about shuffling the deck at the offensive line
00:53position. Luke, I know I'm not Are you concerned at all about
00:57their ability now to protect their quarterback?
01:00No, no more than I was an hour ago. Right. So this doesn't
01:05change that. And that's the funny thing. You know, stats
01:08and I'm a big stats guy, but stats are like bikinis. They
01:10show a lot, but not everything. And so everyone's saying, you
01:13know, it's like that. I've never heard that before. So, uh, you
01:18know, a lot of people right now are saying Tunsil, here's what
01:21the commanders are getting ranked second in this third in
01:23this yada, yada, yada. But for the reasons that you already
01:26laid out, Clint, you know, a lot of the numbers do look good
01:28for Tunsil. But for those that watched him consistently week in
01:31and week out, you know, a lot more of the bad as well. And
01:34that's why I think for the Texans, it is that addition by
01:37subtraction. And now moving forward, we'll see what happens
01:41with the contract who's paying what if the Texans theoretically
01:44don't have to pay anything reports are it would create $14
01:47million in cap savings. And now the Texans also have eight draft
01:51picks in this upcoming draft, which is supposed to have plenty
01:54of good offensive linemen. They'll have a couple extra draft
01:57picks in next year's draft as well. With this trade, two of
02:00the picks from from this draft trade go to this year to the
02:03next year. So they're set up to try to make some moves now to
02:07improve this offensive line, whether through these draft
02:11picks, the only one round they don't have a pick in is the sixth
02:13round, they have two picks in the third round, so they can
02:17extra salary cap space, potentially, depending on if
02:20they had to chip in money on this deal. And now you could go
02:23out and you know, try to be a little more aggressive in
02:27improving the offensive line after getting rid of guys like
02:29Shaq and tons. Yeah, I'm gonna tell you, look, the I've said
02:33this a million times, like they have, and they've said it, the
02:37Texans have said it, the Texans have repeatedly said, Hey, look,
02:40we've got to fix the past protection from the inside out.
02:44We've got to we've got to make sure that we can protect the
02:46inside. And as an old quarterback, I'm here to tell
02:48you, I don't give a damn how good my tackles are. If my guard
02:52center guard, any or all of them together are always pushed
02:56back into my lap. Now I got to retreat back, I got to retreat
02:59outside. And whether that's a defensive end peeling off of the
03:03side that I'm rolling to, or it's a defensive end that's
03:05chasing the high side. And either way it goes, I'm a
03:09sitting duck. And I know look, CJ Stroud is a good athlete.
03:12He's proven the Georgia game come out of college. He proved a
03:15couple of times this year that he's a better athlete than we
03:18give him credit for. But the reality of it is if he doesn't
03:21have anywhere to push up into the pocket, he and every other
03:24quarterback out there is going to struggle. And I don't give a
03:27damn how good you are on the edges, right? Here's the deal.
03:30You move right now the way they're the way they are set
03:32right now. You move Titus Howard to left tackle, you let Blake
03:35Fisher be your right tackle, you freed up cap space with several
03:39moves that you made restructuring deals, cutting
03:42Shaq Mason trading Laramie Tunsil. Now you've created some
03:45cap space. Now you can go out there and you can get a left
03:48guard, you can go out there and get a center, you can go out
03:51there and get a right guard, whether that's free agency, or
03:54it's the draft, guys, Jarrett Patterson, to some degree at
04:00center, you can have a healthy competition with guys like Juice
04:03Scruggs at one of the guard positions, or at center, you
04:07got not only a frontline, but you've got a you've got much
04:11better depth than you had last year. I don't know what the
04:13Texans are going to do. But I have zero concerns about the
04:17tackle position with this football team. If your offensive
04:20coordinator is worth. I mean, his worth is weight if he is
04:26just if he's just a competent NFL offensive coordinator. If
04:32you don't have top tier tackles. It is very simple and very
04:38common to have help solutions with your tackles. Where it's
04:44hard to have help solutions and your hands are really tied is
04:47when your guards and your centers aren't worth a damn.
04:50Right? Then you got to go you can't make you got to slide,
04:53you got to slide everything right? You can't. There's just
04:56fewer options of getting help inside there. And you've got to
04:59show your cards to the defense by moving the running back up
05:03in the a gap or stopping the tight end in the a gap or help
05:06both and getting those guys that help that they need inside
05:08there. Right. So firming up the interior of this offensive line
05:13is is much more possible right now. And and not only is it
05:19more possible from a cap space, but it's all it's also more
05:22possible from a coaching perspective for these guys to
05:25get it done. So for what it's worth, I have no concerns with
05:29the protection. I think you put it best Luke right there. You
05:31don't have any more concerns right now. Then you had and he
05:37had just much concern when Laramie was a Texan to when he
05:40wasn't man. It's crazy because this could be a this could be a
05:44win win for everybody involved. Right? Because I look at Larry
05:47Tunsell is a great pass protecting offensive lineman no
05:50doubt about it. Now there's penalties as you mentioned that
05:52come along with it. I don't like the offseason stuff and and and
05:56the the antics that he pulls in the offseason because when he's
05:59allowed to do that, then the other guys feel like they can
06:02act a certain way the head coach can't hold them accountable. But
06:05the reality of it is if you plug Laramie Tunsell into a system
06:09that's already got leaders, you know, that's the head coach is
06:12already, you know, establishing, you know, the culture and the
06:15physicality and all that comes with that, then Laramie is gonna
06:19be fine. The problem is in Houston, you need as in the
06:24offensive line room, you needed Laramie Tunsell to be more than
06:27just one of the best pass blocking tackles in the game,
06:31you needed more, you need more out of that money, you need more
06:34out of the captain, you need more of an impact player that
06:38can impact the guys around them, then just do their job at
06:41an elite level. That's, that's, that's where I'm at. All right,
06:45I'm Clint Sterner. Luke Morrow is in the building for Ron
06:48Uglie today. Tyler's on the ones and twos in the back. The big
06:51news, the Texans have traded Laramie Tunsell to the
06:54Washington commanders and got back a boatload of picks.