It is Day 2 of Houston Texans Training Camp presented by Xfinity! Make sure you are subscribed to Texans All-Access on Spotify and Apple Podcasts because you do not want to miss this episode.
I will start with C.J. Stroud because what John Harris and I saw today was special.
I am telling you, it is the best I have seen C.J. throw the football in a long time. He made a throw to WR Jayden Higgins on an out route where CB Derek Stingley Jr. was draped all over him, and C.J. put the ball a yard and a half out of bounds and let Higgins use his length to toe-tap it in. He had another one to WR Justin Watson on third down, fitting it into the one spot where Watson could slide into it and pick up the first. Then there was the over route to TE Foster Moreau where he threw it low and away with traffic around his feet. Foster could not come up with it, but it was a brilliant ball. Only one spot he could have thrown it and he put it there.
We sat down with Executive Vice President and General Manager Nick Caserio field-side at training camp and it was a wide-ranging conversation. Caserio talked about the identity of this football team and what it means to be built on toughness and physicality. He told us, "We think we're going to have a pretty good football team." He talked about the offensive line group having a different vibe this year and credited OL coach Cole Popovich for setting the standard.
On rookie TE Marlin Klein, he said the second-round pick out of Michigan has "a really interesting story" and praised his work ethic and mindset. On QB coach Jerry Schuplinski he said, "He's a great human being. He's very smart. He's got a really good demeanor." On Tank Dell's comeback from injury he said it "says a lot about who he is as a human being" and called him a special kid. On RB David Montgomery he was emphatic: "He's an absolute stud."
Caserio also gave us insight into how he approaches contract negotiations. He described himself as a bottom-line negotiator who communicates clearly and tries to maintain working relationships with agents. He also shared his summer reading list, which included Rory McIlroy's autobiography and a book on DeepMind AI founder Demis Hassabis.
But the moment of this episode — and maybe of this entire training camp — was DeMeco Ryans' speech to the team in the meeting room that kicked off camp. For the first time ever, our video crew got inside that room. Coach Ryans referenced the Artemis 2 mission and how NASA spent three years building a team to go further than anyone has gone before. He told the room the Texans have 47 days until they launch against the Buffalo Bills on September 13. And then he asked them, "Are you a go?" John and I looked at each other this morning and said the same thing: t-shirts. We need to make t-shirts. That speech gave us chills.
S Jalen Pitre wrapped things up at the podium, talking about the iron-sharpens-iron mentality in camp and how the offense and defense are pushing each other every single day.
This team is locked in. Subscribe to Texans All-Access on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and do not miss a single episode this training camp.
