The Houston Texans made significant investments in their secondary and offensive line with the first-round selections of cornerback Derek Stingley and guard Kenyon Green.
The Texans have protected those investments throughout the club’s offseason workouts as the rookies recover from injuries sustained at the end of their collegiate careers. Stingley played three games due to a Lisfranc injury while Green had a knee issue he worked through during the pre-draft process.
Coach Lovie Smith told reporters after mandatory minicamp Tuesday at Houston Methodist Training Center that he anticipates both rookies will be ready when training camp kicks off five weeks from now.
“We expect them to be full speed, ready to go,” Smith said. “Both players have had off-season surgeries. We knew that. So, we had a plan. We wanted them to first come in, we evaluate, see exactly where they are. We don’t play tomorrow, so we’re going to take it slow with them.”
Even if they were full speed, there are limitations to the offseason program, such as no padded practices. For trench players such as Green, the evaluation process is incomplete without the chance to see full contact.
For Smith, just as any player in the offseason program, the mental aspect of the game is where he hopes Stingley and Green have been excelling.
“The mental part has been good,” said Smith. “Everybody is exactly where we thought they would be, talking about [receiver] John Metchie, too, all the players that have had injuries.”
The expectation is the Texans will have 100% attendance by the time training camp begins.
“We come back in the fall, we’re going to be pretty much at 100% first day of training camp,” Smith said. “We’re excited about that.”
