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The CHAT IS OVER. Thanks to all who participated. All answers are here in the thread so people who missed the chat can look through to see the Q&A without wading through it.
I'll be around this thread for most of the day to answer whatever questions you have. @Suchomel said he would hop in every now and then, too, so I'll leave the detailed recruiting questions to him for when he has time to hop in. I have a few errands to run at certain points of the day and my son to take care of, so I'll be in and out, but will check back through the day until the chat is over later this afternoon - probably around 4pm or so. As usual when I do these chats, I'll copy and paste the questions and answers here in the OP so people who don't like wading through a whole thread after the chat is over can see what was discussed, and so it can stay up as content once the chat is over.
So hit me with whatever you got. Longhorns, NFL, fantasy, etc. Also happy to answer any random life questions. Let's go.
I had the update on him last night, we aren't able to see practice, but from what was communicated to me, things certainly seem to be trending in the right way. I can't put my neck out there and say one way or the other because we all know how that thing goes, but I know that some around the program are confident with his progression.
1) We don't have enough of a sample size in games to have a laundry list of any strengths or weaknesses on Cook. His weakness is that he is a freshman. Davis' biggest strength is his athleticism and length, his biggest weakness is his mental game where he bites on double moves, gets mixed up on split-field coverage concepts and responsibilities and loses a step against fast players in bail technique. Cook would likely represent a small, and possibly insignificant dropoff.
2) Chris Brown would be the best option to replace Locke at this time although the idea of Demarvion Overshown is appealing on paper.
3) I'm not going to jinx Texas by assuming it will be in position to get any freshman any garbage-time run, but clearly we all want to see Dele if he's healthy enough to go.
He's not practicing. He's not even getting into pads for practice and even guys like Roach who are out for the season get padded up to go up there and work with the trainers if that tells you anything. His issue is serious and he needs time. You worry that by the time he is ready (if he ever is ready - and health is the primary concern) he will have lost out on a ton of time to develop his feet and balance which he still needs badly. The poor dude has been robbed of opportunities to develop these key traits at every turn but it doesn't stop the clock.
I don't think you can say Hager has helped himself this season, he has not been an impact player. He'll be viewed as an OLB at the next level, teams will want to use him situationally off the edge if they are interested in his skill set -- he has the mentality for the edge more than the inside and even he would tell you as much. He's a guy who could REALLY use a big second half here. I'm not sure he's even a shoe-in to be drafted at this point if things continue as they have thus far. Really hoping some regression hits for Breckyn and his production comes in bunches down the stretch to make up for the slow start.
If Texas has the season everyone is hoping for, Tom Herman wouldn't make a point to replace anyone. He seems like an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"-type of guy. He's also a stubborn guy and holding onto his staff as originally assembled shows the whole world he was right all along as people bitched about his hires in year one.
Collin Johnson
Lil'Jordan Humphrey
Brandon Jones
Buy. I'm not sure he'll be ready to make the jump by then, but teams will be poking around him and if things continue as they have, he should be getting every bit of advice possible from the advisory board about his stock.
I actually like the Dixie Chicken. Cheap Beer, good music. Plus, you're always guaranteed to be the smartest guy in the whole bar.
All of my reels are spinners - getting a backlash out of a bait caster can ruin a whole fishing trip and I don't need the headaches.
Texas will lose Vahe and Anderson to graduation, so that leaves the LG and LT spots open. It will also lose Rodriguez at RG. Cosmi will move to LT and I anticipate Kerstetter staying at guard while Okafor takes over at RT. So, that would mean competition for one starting guard primarily between Tope Imade and Junior Angilau if I had to guess at this time.
Then you've been thinking the wrong things, the trade is horrible and reeks of desperation. The Cowboys think they can win now, which is not something I think I buy into, but maybe they do. If they thought the window was closing, they should have gotten Josh Gordon earlier in the process for a much later pick.
Amari Cooper is not good. His hands are bad and he's inconsistent. How his draft stock remained the same over the time he's been in the league is a joke. He's only got one more year left on his deal and will be owed $19MM next season. The Cowboys expending first-round capital essentially means that they'll now need to lock him up long term on a big deal that could extend past the window of Dak's rookie contract and Jason Garrett's remainder of time with the team. This signing means that Garrett is around for one more season post-2018 barring some sort of 5-to-6 win debacle because that will be the final year to see if all the parts assembled can come together while Dak is still on his rookie deal. If they tank in 2019, Dak will be gone, Garrett will be gone, and the rebuild will be underway with a fake "WR1" getting paid like a real one as a building block.
Add in the fact that the 2019 WR class in the draft is fully loaded with stud talent (especially long, big, TRUE X WR types unlike we've seen in a while) ... you see why I think the trade is absolutely miserable. I'd be livid if I were a Cowboys fan.
That is 100% happening.
Huge dirtball. The recent Aaron Hernandez "Gladiator" Podcast from the Boston Globe's Spotlight team does not paint him in a good light at all. He's an enabler of horrible, abhorrent behavior and it's coming home to roost.
Could certainly see this sort of scenario taking shape for a player like Overshown down the road, especially on special teams or if an injury were to occur to BJ Foster (knock on wood). The same could be said of Adeoye.
Entwistle although Burton was a maniac.
Dislike Primus (don't consider Claypool a bassist as much as a musician who uses something like a bass) but I hate Rush with the fire of 10,00 suns, so I'll go Claypool.
Love Flea, but what a joke of a question. If we're talking raw bass chops, maybe you could go with Flea but Sir Paul is the GOAT.
Not answering recruiting questions, half of you guys know as much as I do, sometimes more.
As for the assistants, (no order within tiers)
Tier One
Orlando
Tier Two
Hand
Naivar
Tier Three
Washington
Mehringer
Tier Four
Meekins
Tier Five
Drayton
Giles
Beck
Warehime
No, I know plenty of well-off folks who buy lottery tickets when the prize pools get this big. This is America, people can do what they want. If some poor dude gets enjoyment out of wasting money on the lottery what difference does it make? I waste money on all kinds of stupid crap that doesn't even have a millionth of a chance at making me rich that the lottery does.
Of course. Even I can answer that one.
Arizona. Also, with names like Parker when asking someone fantasy questions, you should give a first name too. If you mean Devante, I have no use for that turd.
Herman wants to win and those two guys are important. I wouldn't expect they would be benched, if anything, for more than maybe a series or possibly a quarter at most -- especially if the violation was minor. We see it all over, whether we like it or not, it's the coach's decision how to punish these guys and the level of punishment is completely inverse to the level of the player's importance to the team unless it's a violation the coach knows he will not be able to get away with sloughing under the rug.
I have no concrete information one way or the other but if you put a gun to my head at this moment on Wednesday at 11am, and made me place a bet for my life on who would start, I'd say Sam based on the limited information I'm working on. Nothing I would take to the bank, and as I've said, this will continue to be a wait-and-see for all involved.
Nice team, see if you can buy low on Keenan Allen while that opportunity is still there. You need to ship Alex Collins ASAP, you should have done so last week.
Probably Chris Brown to start, but there will be pressure to get Overshown on the field and I'm wondering if he could handle it. I'd have to see him in space in practice versus some of these young slot WRs on option routes to evaluate whether he could bring as big an upgrade as some would hope for.
I would assume Cook and Boyce, but those guys won't be out long, let's be real. If this were a major issue, there would be more smoke about it. If they are out for an extended period, we should all worry that they really screwed up off the field somehow.
Judgement-free zone here. I don't really drink a mixed drink outside of a margarita or Mexican Martini. If I'm at a bar I drink tequila and beer. If I'm at home, I drink tequila and wine. If I had to choose one mixed drink, maybe a Texas Mule. I made it up. It's a mule out of one of those silver mugs but instead of Vodka, I have them make it with Tequila.
I agree.
Yes and Yesterday. How long can that dude live off the Peyton Manning deal? He wanted to pay Osweiler the big bucks and cried to the media like a scorned lover when that turd of a QB went to the highest bidder instead of taking a small hometown discount. He then wasted a first-round pick on Paxton Lynch and, even as a guy who fancies himself as an evaluator of QB talent, has yet to even really come close to getting that position on par with league average as the jury is still very much out on Keenum all these years later. He has ruined the defense and hired a horrible head coach he will soon throw under the bus. What more do you want out of a guy to show he needs to be fired?
Buy, not all of them read it but some do. That doesn't necessarily mean they value it, now - I think they find at least some value in it, but all I know is that a few of them keep up with my work. It would be kind of silly not to, I'm a grown man who spends like 30 hours a week breaking down their football team. Even if you don't agree with or truly value the info, it is still a lot of extra work they would be getting from a research assistant that can be had for free.
Yessir, it is Mezcal Gracias a Dios Espadin. You can get a 750 for around $30 at Specs. If they don't have it at your location, just ask and they will ship it in for you.
I think that is the name of the game for now, but will change as the kind of receiver Texas attracts changes. If you look at the players on the roster and the ones in the recruiting pipeline, they don't have any with these bodies of Collin or LJH. They are trying to maximize the attributes they have on campus today.
They will all change their tune and when they do, please remember to message me. As for bias, that could not be more ridiculous. I'm an unbiased observer of the league and call them like I see them -- doing so pays the bills for me. I sense more bias in your reply than anything else.
I have been running around picking up mics and stuff for our podcast and doing this chat all day and have still not gotten matchups imported into my model. Initial lean is Brown and Thompson if Thompson is healthy.
You and I are both wondering the same thing. At least I feel like all this rain with help with the aquifers because my well was producing a VERY low yield recently -- still is, but I know it takes a while for all the water to get down there from the recharge zone. Look at this video I took of Bee Creek by my house yesterday:
Her tumor was healed, but per the book, she dies of a heart attack ten years later.
I love Cade Brewer's game and do indeed believe he is the next breakout TE on campus, even if it is not a huge surprise breakout candidate. Warehime should be playing him more as it is. I'm not sure what he sees in Beck that is so much better than Brewer, because Brewer has the upside to be an NFL prospect one day as a true pass-receiving option at the TE position if he's interested in committing to getting there as a player, which I don't have any reason to believe he isn't.
I am sincerely very surprised. I think that maybe he's lost a step and also the staff doesn't see him as one of their guys. He's never been dependable from a health perspective and is not necessarily a rah-rah team guy as a senior which is what I think Herman expects. Add all these things together and maybe it shouldn't be as surprising as it has been to me that he hasn't been able to see the field. I know guys like D'Onta Foreman talk about Johnson behind the scenes like he is the epitome of a beast and a badass and we've seen those flashes, but perhaps those traits have been somewhat zapped in the way we saw with Johnathan Gray. In short, I don't have a good answer, but yes, I've been surprised.
I don't hold anything against young and/or uninformed people who buy or rescue dangerous dog breeds. Hell, I once bought a rottweiler and grew up around a Shepherd as a kid (neither are anywhere near as dangerous as pits, but that's beside the point). Once you get old enough to grow some sense, you need to realize that pit bulls are not for folks in the city who are around other pets and small humans. It's that simple. I think many who have pit bulls realize this as they own them, and for those people, I hold nothing against them. For the trolls who post pictures of their mongrels just to get a rise out of those who are rightfully against harboring them among helpless kids and other small animals -- I have no use for those types. They are trolls and should be ignored.
On defense, it would regretfully be Locke, only regretfully because I'm a huge fan of him as a human and think he'd be better at safety but there just isn't room back there for him.
On offense, it would probably be Vahe. I would replace him with Kerstetter.
Thank you very much for supporting RosterWatch. It is thanks to subscribers like you that everything I do there is possible. Thank you. Go pick up Jalen Richard for sure. Jordan Howard will have better days, but the game scripts recently have not called for it. You can definitely try making a trade for an RB but the fact is there aren't that many excellent buy-lows right now. See if you can package something like Collins and Sanders for a front-line guy. You are still plenty deep with Mixon being your horse until Michel gets back.
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
The CHAT IS OVER. Thanks to all who participated. All answers are here in the thread so people who missed the chat can look through to see the Q&A without wading through it.
I'll be around this thread for most of the day to answer whatever questions you have. @Suchomel said he would hop in every now and then, too, so I'll leave the detailed recruiting questions to him for when he has time to hop in. I have a few errands to run at certain points of the day and my son to take care of, so I'll be in and out, but will check back through the day until the chat is over later this afternoon - probably around 4pm or so. As usual when I do these chats, I'll copy and paste the questions and answers here in the OP so people who don't like wading through a whole thread after the chat is over can see what was discussed, and so it can stay up as content once the chat is over.
So hit me with whatever you got. Longhorns, NFL, fantasy, etc. Also happy to answer any random life questions. Let's go.
I had the update on him last night, we aren't able to see practice, but from what was communicated to me, things certainly seem to be trending in the right way. I can't put my neck out there and say one way or the other because we all know how that thing goes, but I know that some around the program are confident with his progression.
1) We don't have enough of a sample size in games to have a laundry list of any strengths or weaknesses on Cook. His weakness is that he is a freshman. Davis' biggest strength is his athleticism and length, his biggest weakness is his mental game where he bites on double moves, gets mixed up on split-field coverage concepts and responsibilities and loses a step against fast players in bail technique. Cook would likely represent a small, and possibly insignificant dropoff.
2) Chris Brown would be the best option to replace Locke at this time although the idea of Demarvion Overshown is appealing on paper.
3) I'm not going to jinx Texas by assuming it will be in position to get any freshman any garbage-time run, but clearly we all want to see Dele if he's healthy enough to go.
He's not practicing. He's not even getting into pads for practice and even guys like Roach who are out for the season get padded up to go up there and work with the trainers if that tells you anything. His issue is serious and he needs time. You worry that by the time he is ready (if he ever is ready - and health is the primary concern) he will have lost out on a ton of time to develop his feet and balance which he still needs badly. The poor dude has been robbed of opportunities to develop these key traits at every turn but it doesn't stop the clock.
I don't think you can say Hager has helped himself this season, he has not been an impact player. He'll be viewed as an OLB at the next level, teams will want to use him situationally off the edge if they are interested in his skill set -- he has the mentality for the edge more than the inside and even he would tell you as much. He's a guy who could REALLY use a big second half here. I'm not sure he's even a shoe-in to be drafted at this point if things continue as they have thus far. Really hoping some regression hits for Breckyn and his production comes in bunches down the stretch to make up for the slow start.
If Texas has the season everyone is hoping for, Tom Herman wouldn't make a point to replace anyone. He seems like an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"-type of guy. He's also a stubborn guy and holding onto his staff as originally assembled shows the whole world he was right all along as people bitched about his hires in year one.
Collin Johnson
Lil'Jordan Humphrey
Brandon Jones
Buy. I'm not sure he'll be ready to make the jump by then, but teams will be poking around him and if things continue as they have, he should be getting every bit of advice possible from the advisory board about his stock.
I actually like the Dixie Chicken. Cheap Beer, good music. Plus, you're always guaranteed to be the smartest guy in the whole bar.
All of my reels are spinners - getting a backlash out of a bait caster can ruin a whole fishing trip and I don't need the headaches.
Texas will lose Vahe and Anderson to graduation, so that leaves the LG and LT spots open. It will also lose Rodriguez at RG. Cosmi will move to LT and I anticipate Kerstetter staying at guard while Okafor takes over at RT. So, that would mean competition for one starting guard primarily between Tope Imade and Junior Angilau if I had to guess at this time.
Then you've been thinking the wrong things, the trade is horrible and reeks of desperation. The Cowboys think they can win now, which is not something I think I buy into, but maybe they do. If they thought the window was closing, they should have gotten Josh Gordon earlier in the process for a much later pick.
Amari Cooper is not good. His hands are bad and he's inconsistent. How his draft stock remained the same over the time he's been in the league is a joke. He's only got one more year left on his deal and will be owed $19MM next season. The Cowboys expending first-round capital essentially means that they'll now need to lock him up long term on a big deal that could extend past the window of Dak's rookie contract and Jason Garrett's remainder of time with the team. This signing means that Garrett is around for one more season post-2018 barring some sort of 5-to-6 win debacle because that will be the final year to see if all the parts assembled can come together while Dak is still on his rookie deal. If they tank in 2019, Dak will be gone, Garrett will be gone, and the rebuild will be underway with a fake "WR1" getting paid like a real one as a building block.
Add in the fact that the 2019 WR class in the draft is fully loaded with stud talent (especially long, big, TRUE X WR types unlike we've seen in a while) ... you see why I think the trade is absolutely miserable. I'd be livid if I were a Cowboys fan.
That is 100% happening.
Huge dirtball. The recent Aaron Hernandez "Gladiator" Podcast from the Boston Globe's Spotlight team does not paint him in a good light at all. He's an enabler of horrible, abhorrent behavior and it's coming home to roost.
Could certainly see this sort of scenario taking shape for a player like Overshown down the road, especially on special teams or if an injury were to occur to BJ Foster (knock on wood). The same could be said of Adeoye.
Entwistle although Burton was a maniac.
Dislike Primus (don't consider Claypool a bassist as much as a musician who uses something like a bass) but I hate Rush with the fire of 10,00 suns, so I'll go Claypool.
Love Flea, but what a joke of a question. If we're talking raw bass chops, maybe you could go with Flea but Sir Paul is the GOAT.
Not answering recruiting questions, half of you guys know as much as I do, sometimes more.
As for the assistants, (no order within tiers)
Tier One
Orlando
Tier Two
Hand
Naivar
Tier Three
Washington
Mehringer
Tier Four
Meekins
Tier Five
Drayton
Giles
Beck
Warehime
No, I know plenty of well-off folks who buy lottery tickets when the prize pools get this big. This is America, people can do what they want. If some poor dude gets enjoyment out of wasting money on the lottery what difference does it make? I waste money on all kinds of stupid crap that doesn't even have a millionth of a chance at making me rich that the lottery does.
Of course. Even I can answer that one.
Arizona. Also, with names like Parker when asking someone fantasy questions, you should give a first name too. If you mean Devante, I have no use for that turd.
Herman wants to win and those two guys are important. I wouldn't expect they would be benched, if anything, for more than maybe a series or possibly a quarter at most -- especially if the violation was minor. We see it all over, whether we like it or not, it's the coach's decision how to punish these guys and the level of punishment is completely inverse to the level of the player's importance to the team unless it's a violation the coach knows he will not be able to get away with sloughing under the rug.
I have no concrete information one way or the other but if you put a gun to my head at this moment on Wednesday at 11am, and made me place a bet for my life on who would start, I'd say Sam based on the limited information I'm working on. Nothing I would take to the bank, and as I've said, this will continue to be a wait-and-see for all involved.
Nice team, see if you can buy low on Keenan Allen while that opportunity is still there. You need to ship Alex Collins ASAP, you should have done so last week.
Probably Chris Brown to start, but there will be pressure to get Overshown on the field and I'm wondering if he could handle it. I'd have to see him in space in practice versus some of these young slot WRs on option routes to evaluate whether he could bring as big an upgrade as some would hope for.
I would assume Cook and Boyce, but those guys won't be out long, let's be real. If this were a major issue, there would be more smoke about it. If they are out for an extended period, we should all worry that they really screwed up off the field somehow.
Judgement-free zone here. I don't really drink a mixed drink outside of a margarita or Mexican Martini. If I'm at a bar I drink tequila and beer. If I'm at home, I drink tequila and wine. If I had to choose one mixed drink, maybe a Texas Mule. I made it up. It's a mule out of one of those silver mugs but instead of Vodka, I have them make it with Tequila.
I agree.
Yes and Yesterday. How long can that dude live off the Peyton Manning deal? He wanted to pay Osweiler the big bucks and cried to the media like a scorned lover when that turd of a QB went to the highest bidder instead of taking a small hometown discount. He then wasted a first-round pick on Paxton Lynch and, even as a guy who fancies himself as an evaluator of QB talent, has yet to even really come close to getting that position on par with league average as the jury is still very much out on Keenum all these years later. He has ruined the defense and hired a horrible head coach he will soon throw under the bus. What more do you want out of a guy to show he needs to be fired?
Buy, not all of them read it but some do. That doesn't necessarily mean they value it, now - I think they find at least some value in it, but all I know is that a few of them keep up with my work. It would be kind of silly not to, I'm a grown man who spends like 30 hours a week breaking down their football team. Even if you don't agree with or truly value the info, it is still a lot of extra work they would be getting from a research assistant that can be had for free.
Yessir, it is Mezcal Gracias a Dios Espadin. You can get a 750 for around $30 at Specs. If they don't have it at your location, just ask and they will ship it in for you.
I think that is the name of the game for now, but will change as the kind of receiver Texas attracts changes. If you look at the players on the roster and the ones in the recruiting pipeline, they don't have any with these bodies of Collin or LJH. They are trying to maximize the attributes they have on campus today.
They will all change their tune and when they do, please remember to message me. As for bias, that could not be more ridiculous. I'm an unbiased observer of the league and call them like I see them -- doing so pays the bills for me. I sense more bias in your reply than anything else.
I have been running around picking up mics and stuff for our podcast and doing this chat all day and have still not gotten matchups imported into my model. Initial lean is Brown and Thompson if Thompson is healthy.
You and I are both wondering the same thing. At least I feel like all this rain with help with the aquifers because my well was producing a VERY low yield recently -- still is, but I know it takes a while for all the water to get down there from the recharge zone. Look at this video I took of Bee Creek by my house yesterday:
Her tumor was healed, but per the book, she dies of a heart attack ten years later.
I love Cade Brewer's game and do indeed believe he is the next breakout TE on campus, even if it is not a huge surprise breakout candidate. Warehime should be playing him more as it is. I'm not sure what he sees in Beck that is so much better than Brewer, because Brewer has the upside to be an NFL prospect one day as a true pass-receiving option at the TE position if he's interested in committing to getting there as a player, which I don't have any reason to believe he isn't.
I am sincerely very surprised. I think that maybe he's lost a step and also the staff doesn't see him as one of their guys. He's never been dependable from a health perspective and is not necessarily a rah-rah team guy as a senior which is what I think Herman expects. Add all these things together and maybe it shouldn't be as surprising as it has been to me that he hasn't been able to see the field. I know guys like D'Onta Foreman talk about Johnson behind the scenes like he is the epitome of a beast and a badass and we've seen those flashes, but perhaps those traits have been somewhat zapped in the way we saw with Johnathan Gray. In short, I don't have a good answer, but yes, I've been surprised.
I don't hold anything against young and/or uninformed people who buy or rescue dangerous dog breeds. Hell, I once bought a rottweiler and grew up around a Shepherd as a kid (neither are anywhere near as dangerous as pits, but that's beside the point). Once you get old enough to grow some sense, you need to realize that pit bulls are not for folks in the city who are around other pets and small humans. It's that simple. I think many who have pit bulls realize this as they own them, and for those people, I hold nothing against them. For the trolls who post pictures of their mongrels just to get a rise out of those who are rightfully against harboring them among helpless kids and other small animals -- I have no use for those types. They are trolls and should be ignored.
On defense, it would regretfully be Locke, only regretfully because I'm a huge fan of him as a human and think he'd be better at safety but there just isn't room back there for him.
On offense, it would probably be Vahe. I would replace him with Kerstetter.
Thank you very much for supporting RosterWatch. It is thanks to subscribers like you that everything I do there is possible. Thank you. Go pick up Jalen Richard for sure. Jordan Howard will have better days, but the game scripts recently have not called for it. You can definitely try making a trade for an RB but the fact is there aren't that many excellent buy-lows right now. See if you can package something like Collins and Sanders for a front-line guy. You are still plenty deep with Mixon being your horse until Michel gets back.
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