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Day 1 of the 2026 Houston Texans training camp is in the books, and John Harris and I walked away from practice feeling something we haven't felt in a while. The tempo, the execution, the attitude — it was all there on Day 1.
The play everybody is going to be talking about came from our first-round pick, C/G Keylan Rutledge. During a second-team period, Rutledge took an outside zone run and drove all the way to the numbers to deliver a pancake block on a LB. Defensive players had to pull him off. John Harris had the perfect way to describe it: "This is the offensive lineman equivalent of a first-round WR making a one-handed grab in the back of the end zone." That's exactly what it was. Rutledge said it himself after the draft: "I'm going to come in and compete. That's what got me here." He showed it on Day 1.
Then there was the play where QB C.J. Stroud found WR Nico Collins across the middle for a first down after the offensive line picked up a stunt absolutely perfectly. Harris told me he had four exclamation points and two asterisks in his notebook for that one. C.J. had time in the pocket, scanned the field, and delivered a strike. "It gave C.J. time to scan, scan, boom, there's Nico across the middle," Harris said. "He's open, boom, hit him now." That's two plays out of three in a team period that showed what this offensive line can do.
Rookie TE Marlin Klein opened some eyes too. Harris was floored by his speed and acceleration on a quick out route where Klein pulled away from a LB. Then later, Graham Mertz threw one deep and Klein tracked it down and nearly made a diving catch. "That's a different gear," Harris said. "That is something that this offense has needed." I loved hearing that.
In the backfield, RB Jawhar Jordan showed his explosiveness on a split zone run, and UDFA RB Noah Whittington impressed with his acceleration on a 15-yard run. WR Lewis Bond was good, and WR ayden Higgins looked strong heading into Year 2. With WR Jaylin Noel out weeks with a broken finger and WR Tank Dell still ramping up, there are opportunities everywhere and guys are stepping up to seize them.
We had The General, John McClain, on the show for his 50th training camp. Fifty! He opened with a beautiful tribute to the late Janice McNair and then got right into the football. You'll have to listen to hear what he had to say about this Texans defense and what the team can do this year. I think you'll like it.
McClain also shared some incredible Oilers training camp stories from the old days in San Angelo — six-week camps, eight-week preseasons, the fat man's table for overweight linemen, and a leopard named Cowboy that terrorized rookies in their dorms. He even won a short-story-on-deadline award for writing about that leopard incident. Classic General.
We closed today's show with a quick trip around the NFL covering all the latest as Training Camps get rolling.
Subscribe to Texans All-Access on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and make sure you're listening every single day through training camp. And go read Harris Hits at HoustonTexans.com every day for John Harris' practice observations. It's the best training camp coverage you'll find anywhere. Go Texans.
