The Texans kicked off their three-day veteran minicamp with a special guest speaker, Marcus Luttrell.
The former Navy SEAL and "Lone Survivor" spoke to the team for about an hour and even did an informal question-and-answer session before players headed out for practice on Tuesday morning.
"Yeah, he was awesome," head coach Bill O'Brien said Tuesday. "Marcus and I met at the Preakness (Stakes) a couple years ago. He's just, as everybody knows, an awesome guy. Just because of my schedule and things he was doing, we weren't able to get him in here the last couple of years. We got him in here and he did a great job."
Luttrell also met with the team during O'Brien's first year as head coach. In 2014, Luttrell led players out of the tunnel as the Texans Homefield Advantage Captain in the annual Salute to Service Day against Cincinnati in Week 12. Three years later, Luttrell's message to the team is still an effective one.
"There are just so many things that relate between what he went through and - you know, it's not life or death on the football field - but just the foundation of teamwork and having each other's back and those things," O'Brien said. "The guy was awesome. He's a passionate guy, great guy to listen to. I think all of us could have listened to him all day, but we had to get to practice at some point. So we thank Marcus, we thank him for his service to our country and we especially thank him for today."
The Texans three-day veteran minicamp ends Thursday at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
Check out some of the best shots from the first day of veteran minicamp.
