Robert Woods knew that the team he would eventually become a part of was better than the media and sports fans made them out to be. Although they were in the beginning stages of a rebuild situation and legal turmoil surrounding their franchise quarterback, the receiver could get a sense of determination from the players he competed against on the Houston Texans when he was a member of the Los Angeles Rams in 2021.
“Those guys over there had every reason to call it a day after we went up big on them, but they didn’t,” said Woods after the Rams beat the Texans 38-22 on Oct. 31, 2021 at NRG Stadium. “They kept competing, and when you see that as a player, you know what they are going through. You know that they are fighting for pride and dignity. If they keep that attitude during the rough times, they will be ok in the future.”
At the time, Woods had no clue that the future would include him being on the team two years later. After his season with the Rams concluded with him being on injury reserved during their Super Bowl run, Woods was traded to the Tennessee Titans, where he played one season before being released in February 2023 and signed a two-year deal with the Texans in March.
“I feel like this is a similar situation to when I came to L.A. with a young [Sean] McVay,” said Texans WR Robert Woods when I asked about the energy surrounding the team. “I think coach Ryan’s has that here.” #Texans #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/hkQSdtF8H5
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) May 26, 2023
Deciding to become a part of the Texans was easy for Woods after Houston hired former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans to become their sixth coach in January.
“I never knew I would come here to this offense or to this team,” Woods said after organized team activities May 23. “Being here, just coming here and hearing DeMeco talk for years, I guess, being in the Rams and seeing him kind of develop with the 49ers and take over that defense and give energy to that linebacker group, that whole team, and be able to see him come here and kind of feed that same energy to our team. I see from our defensive side, a lot of energy, a lot of juice spreading over to the offense.”
Woods, 31, sees a lot of similarities in the Texans organization as he did during his time with the Rams when he joined them in 2017.
“I think a lot of hungry players, hungry coaches,” said Woods about the Texans. “I feel like this is a similar situation to when I came to L.A. with a young [Sean] McVay. Some say it was a rebuild. I feel like it was just a team buying into your coach, believing in the coach, believing in the system, and I think Coach Ryans has that here. Got a lot of young players buying into this defense, into this culture, and we can change this environment.”
Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is hoping Woods can reproduce some of the production he had during the 2018-20 seasons he had with the Rams, where he averaged 1,096 yards on 88.6 receptions.
“In this offense, receivers are asked to do a lot,” Woods responded when asked about the duties in Slowik’s offense which will be similar to the offense in San Francisco. “That’s obviously run crisp routes, make plays down the field, be able to take the ball for short catches, get a lot of YAC (yards after catch), and make guys miss.”
The Texans will resume voluntary OTAs after the Memorial Day holiday.
