HOUSTON — As Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio spoke with the media before the 2023 training camp started at Houston Methodist Training Center, you could hear the chatter from the players as they approached the field to prepare for the day.
“Man, I have been excited for training camp in a long time,” said one veteran talking to one of his teammates.
There was a sense of enthusiasm as players stretched and organized themselves for team activities. Once practice started, individuals felt a sense of urgency to show new head coach DeMeco Ryans and Caserio just how much they had worked in the off-season.
Yet, one day will not be enough to win over the two men with over 30 years of combined NFL knowledge.
“Anybody’s probably going to be able to go out there and put together one good day of practice,” said Caserio. “You (media) will comment on the highlight reel plays, who did what in practice, this guy made this catch, this guy did that. What you’re looking for is consistency and longevity over the course of a long period of time.”
“Then you combine what they do in the field, what they do in the classroom. Can they actually take the concepts that they are teaching, that they’re learning, can they apply them on the field, can they make the correction? And can they do that over the course of, I would say, extended periods of time? That’s what we’re trying to evaluate.”
Here are a few takeaways from training camp:
John Metchie is back
After sitting out a year of football-related activities due to being diagnosed with leukemia, second-year wide receiver, John Metchie returned to the field with no restrictions. He worked with the first and second units on offense and was in the rotation of players fielding punts and kickoffs during the special teams portion of practice. Houston drafted Metchie in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft, hoping he would duplicate his success at Alabama.
Texans WR John Metchie III is at camp. #TexansTrainingCamp23 #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/3DrWcq7Npk
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) July 26, 2023
“It’s really inspiring seeing him fight back and do everything that he’s been doing,” said second-year defensive back Jalen Pitre. “He’s a guy that I want on my team because I know there’s no quit in a guy like that. He’s continuing to show up and continuing to fight. That’s big for me, and it’s very inspiring.”
Quarterbacks with rough outing
With so many expectations for rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, every snap he takes from the start of training camp to the last one of the season will be looked at through microscopic lenses. On Wednesday, the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft had a subpar day which is to be expected from a rookie quarterback. Stroud looked very well in 7-on-7 drills but struggled during 11-on-11, taking most of the second-team reps.
He overthrew wide receivers Tank Dell and Noah Brown on consecutive plays but made up for it by throwing a perfect pass to Nico Collins, who had beat cornerback Derek Stingley on a go route down the sideline.
.@lbg_nico7 is like that 🚀 pic.twitter.com/34KEaL5UU2
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) July 26, 2023
A rough start was to be expected from a rookie quarterback going through his first day of NFL training camp. Davis Mills doesn’t have that luxury heading into his third and fighting to hold on to the starting position. He took first-team reps but looked out of synch most of the time with his receivers and never could seem to find his rhythm. Although he is learning his third offensive system in three years, Mills failed to complete passes to open wide receivers.
Building blocks
Before training camp began, news broke that the Texans would sign right tackle Tytus Howard to a contract extension. Once his deal is complete, the team will have secured an offensive line built to take the team into the next phase of the rebuild, with left tackle Laremy Tunsil and right guard Shaq Mason signing extensions in the offseason.
This has to be a very expensive conversation between Tytus and Laremy #TexansTrainingCamp23 #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/yxtFZmPr50
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) July 26, 2023
