“He is one of the most phenomenal quarterbacks I’ve ever played for. His ability to learn from mistakes extremely quick is huge. I’ve never seen him miss two passes twice. He’ll miss one at practice one day and then he’ll never miss that again.” Tight end Darren Fells on Deshaun Watson
-The Texans returned to work after a player's day off on Wednesday. Training camp was held outside for the third consecutive practice.
-Several players stayed on the field once practice was over, getting in some more work. Peter Kalambayi said he stayed because he wanted to work on cleaning up his footwork at inside linebacker.
-Head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien pointed out that under normal circumstances, the team would be currently preparing for a third preseason game. Crazy, right? Instead, teams are in camp and need to trim down their rosters without any game action.
"I think with the roster you have right now, this is basically your team," O'Brien said. "You're at an 80-man roster. Eventually you have to get down to 53 plus 16 on the practice squad, so you've got a 69-, 70-man roster at that point."
-The Texans may still bring in street free agents, but according to league rules, a player must have three consecutive negative COVID tests before he can even enter the facility or take a physical. The process is much time consuming and laborious but is required to keep the team virus-free.
-Players are still undergoing daily COVID testing, but many have been open about how they feel "less stressed" or safer entering the facility and seeing their families every day.
-Darren Fells, now in his seventh NFL season and second with the Texans, pointed out that his football career will surpass his basketball career soon.
"One more year and I've actually played football longer than I've played basketball – college and professional combined," Fells said. "So that right there, to answer your question, it's still surreal that I can be playing at a high level for so long and like you said, as old as I am, I guess."
-Fells is also excited to be re-united with his former Arizona Cardinals teammates David Johnson. Fells has been helping Johnson with the offense, although he says Johnson won't have any problems getting acclimated.
"He's a huge threat both in the pass game and the run game, so he's someone we can really use," Fells said. "He's a very smart guy. It doesn't take him long to pick up the offense, so I just help him out whenever I can now."
-Justin Reid outlined his busy offseason following shoulder surgery. Once cleared to practice, he even got a chance to work out in Arizona with teammate Bradley Roby and the two really improved their communication with the extra work.
"Most of my offseason, the first phase of it was rehabilitation post-surgery," Reid said. "Making sure I'm doing what I need to do to make sure my shoulder is healing the correct way. After it hit a point of stability it was just rebuilding it back up, putting muscle back on. Doing strengthening exercises and now it's back to a point that it's strong and stable and I'm comfortable and confident in it."
-Kalambayi grew up with his mother and grandmother, who were both born in Trinidad and Tobago. The Texans inside linebacker still has strong ties to the country which he visits regularly (under non-pandemic circumstances). He recommends the beaches for anyone considering a trip there (one of these days).
The Texans resume training camp practice tomorrow at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
