Top Texans Training Camp Storylines
Training Camp week is HERE! Sean Pendergast and Seth Payne share the biggest Texans training camp storylines.
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00:00training camps Thursday. Yeah, this is because of the Hall of Fame game. The Texans, though
00:06they have robbed, though the NFL has robbed us of that, that fourth preseason game league
00:13wide, the Texans get four preseason games this year because of the Hall of Fame game.
00:19They get extra. Thank you, Canton, Ohio. Thank you, Andre Johnson. It's a, I would say probably
00:25the big reason that the Texans are Texans and the bears are going to face off in the
00:30in the Hall of Fame game. So training camp Thursday, I was thinking about this coming
00:35back like, okay, this is going to feel very, very different. This training camp in the
00:39last few, then even in the last season where last season was last season felt way different
00:45than the previous to the Cully and lovey training camps. Now this is now a training camp set
00:50where there's going to be the NFL network is going to be there. ESPN is going to be
00:54there. Like this is, this isn't just an intriguing team. Now this is a really good football team
00:59to go along with the intrigue. Yeah. We get to see all of those, those little network
01:05types out there on the sideline with their, their, their preening about in their little
01:10NFL polos.
01:11I don't know if NFL network still exists or not, but as far as ESPN, they're firing everybody
01:16there. They're firing everybody as fast as they can. I'm I'm I don't, I don't, I look,
01:21it's not that I'm going to miss their, their programming or anything, but there'll be a
01:25lot of people from all the outlets and possibly NFL network out there. Yeah. Yeah. It should
01:29be good. What's your, what, what's the thing you're most excited about? There's honestly
01:33just the, the wide receiver, the wide receivers and the defensive backs. I think that's where,
01:39that's where you get to see more actual battles taking place.
01:42And they are positions of intrigue, obviously, because they're so loaded at wide receiver
01:47and yet there's going to be fierce competition for those fourth and fifth spots. John Metchie,
01:55just people him. And I think, I think in the OTAs and minicamp, he did look like a different
01:59guy. So I'm intrigued by him. And then Kamari Lassiter and Okuda and Henderson at cornerback
02:06battles that those guys will have with all these receivers should be a really, really
02:11good stuff. I trust, I trust Derek, like Derek Singley is going to have some really good
02:14battles with him, but I, I know what he can do. I just want to see these other guys. Yeah,
02:18but I can't wait to see Stingley go against these guys. You know, you're right. That should
02:22be fun, man. That should be fun. My, my, my, these are my four biggest ones that I'm excited
02:27to see or that I think the biggest storylines for training camp, I'll count them in ascending
02:32order, I guess. Canyon green, what he looks like in the battle at left guard for, for,
02:39for a couple of reasons. One, I'm still petty enough to where I need Canyon green to work
02:44out. Cause he was a pick that came from the Deshaun Watson trade. I'm just wired that
02:49way. I'm sorry. But two, as you pointed out the biggest, one of the biggest Achilles heels
02:54on this team is the interior of the offensive line.
02:57If this left guard battle looks like one where you're like, man, I don't care who wins this.
03:00It looks like they've got some good competition there. And one of these guys is going to hold
03:03this down. That's a huge, that's a huge, huge bucket of gravy right there for me. That's
03:09my expectations are not high for that position right now. I think Kenyon green and Kendrick
03:15green, both I'm wide open to like to being impressed by, I think that Kendrick green
03:24is in a better system now than he was in Pittsburgh for him personally. I think he's just better
03:30suited to this than the offense they were running when he was a rookie.
03:33I think physiologically he looks more like a center Navy guard is his better position.
03:40And then I would, I would lump center in with that battle to center is a tricky position
03:44because it's really important that that guy has a relationship with the quarterback that
03:49he gets the mental side of it down pat. So I think they're going to try as hard as they
03:55can to get juice scrubs up and going, but I think he is in competition with Patterson
04:01for that spot. So those four guys between Patterson Scruggs and the two greens, and
04:07then, you know, the Darius Henderson as well. I think there's a, there's some genuine battling
04:12going on there.
04:13Yeah. And, and that's one that we didn't really get to see in OTAs and minicamp cause they
04:17don't wear pads, you know, like we'll get, we'll get to see him hit a training camp.
04:20That'd be good. So that's four, three for me is kind of ties in to what you were just
04:26talking about the weapons. I know you were talking about the battles with the corners
04:30and the wide receivers. I'm just anxious to see just how all the weapons get assimilated.
04:35You know, does, does it look like a rusty kind of training camp early on with these
04:38guys or is this a training camp where we're like, man, you know, CJ is clicking with Stefan
04:43digs, you know, Joe mix and Joe, I can tell you just from being at the OTAs and minicamp
04:47like Joe Mixon, like physically looks amazing, you know, and he was doing all the things
04:51that you need to do at a padless minicamp to make you feel good about where he's at.
04:56I think just getting the weapons assimilated and all the pieces kind of installed is something
05:01to watch for. I think that Kate Stover is a big X factor and I don't think he's going
05:06to be rookie of the year or anything like that. But if, if he who already has a relationship
05:13with CJ, some inches of being a friend to him, but also just already having a prior
05:21connection through Ohio state and on an offense that man, when executed properly, having two
05:28tight ends in this offense that are good receiving options can be really, really, really brutal.
05:33It just, a lot of it comes down to how well Kate Stover ends up blocking. Cause if you
05:38can be a blocking threat, he's only been, he's only played the position full time for
05:41two years. That could really unlock a lot of things too, as well as you'd be a compliment
05:47to those three wide receivers.
05:48What was digs doing on Instagram yesterday?
05:50Oh, there was just, he put out a, as far as I could tell, it looked like a highly produced
05:54video of him working out with CJ. I love this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. It's going to be good,
06:01man. It's going to be, I couldn't swear. I had bookmarked it and then forgot to watch
06:04the whole thing. They, he looked, he looked like Stefan digs. I'm not, I'm not worried
06:09one bit about Stefan digs athletically. I think a lot of people that just do box score
06:14analysis on it thought that it was somehow age related, that he started off on pace for
06:201600 yards in that season and then dropped off in the last third of the season.
06:25It really, really wasn't. It was a brand new offensive coordinator. They were doing a lot
06:29of different things and digs was used differently, but he was still getting open. So athletically,
06:34I mean every he'll, he'll drop off athletically a little bit every year because of his age,
06:40but I like, I don't think it's going to be a Jose type of drop.
06:42Amy, when we were driving in the car while we were on vacation and all the hurricane
06:47stuff was going on back here after she made sure to check on her parents, check on her
06:51close friends, you know, teachers at the school, things like that. You're like checking social
06:58media and just cause you know, Stefan, he was having trouble getting around Houston
07:02early on during his time here. Just pure like traffic stuff. I'd like a hurricane is a big
07:06wake up call for guys that have never spent time in Houston before. That's a good point.
07:11Cause Stefan digs first adjusted to the potholes. You gotta, you gotta be careful with those
07:16low profile profile tires when you're in Houston. That's one thing a lot of professional athletes
07:21learn early on like that. Yeah. You, you know, you listen to the songs and you want to be
07:26rolling on you know, some, some nice wheels and everything, but you gotta be careful,
07:31man. You gotta, you gotta go very that, that it, look, those are the back in the days of
07:35lean where if you were rolling, you're rolling slow. Okay. Very carefully. Now you just gotta
07:41be, be careful out there with the potholes and yes, the hurricanes as well. We don't
07:45know if Stefan was actually in town for the hurricane. So maybe he just, maybe the so
07:51far so good. He doesn't even have a clue about how bad it can be. Yeah. I'm just, I'm looking
07:54at his, his Twitter and it doesn't, it doesn't look like he tweeted out something like stay
08:00hungry or something. He tweeted out three days ago. He tweeted out must remain focused
08:06focus. Yeah. And then later that day tweeted, God be my source. Okay. This is where, so
08:14the stay focused part, this is the thing that I think a lot of people feel, but don't want
08:19to really believe it. I'm going to tell you this right now, Stefan digs in a lot of ways
08:24can be the absolute best thing for this young locker room because he was on a team in Buffalo
08:31for the last several years that was gone as a team that's knocking on the door and
08:39it's their turn next. The Texans are that team now. So I think in terms of the old dude,
08:44that's annoyingly dot you tell them the rookie's like, Hey man, like, Hey, stay focused. Don't
08:49let all this outside noise get to you. I think Stefan digs is actually the perfect deliverer
08:54of that message. That's a great point. That's a great, some people would call that a messenger.
08:57That's right. That's right. The person who delivers the person who delivers a message
09:00is a messenger. Yes. Yes. Number two for me, big training camp storylines, just the kind
09:08of what I alluded to coming into the segment, like the look and the feel like there's so
09:12much excitement and energy and hope right now with the Texans. And it's going to translate
09:16some kind of way at training camp, whether it's with bigger crowds, whether it's a different
09:21vibe around the team, whether it's, I I'm just, I am, I'm very anxious to see how this
09:26whole thing feels. We haven't had a training camp like this since the Kubiak era. I don't
09:30think. Right, right. Yeah. And, um, I think that if I think back to my conversations I
09:36had with fans last year, there were two main emotions. One was a cautious optimism, but
09:45still some kind of trepidation over the previous couple of years. But then also remember this
09:51time last year, a lot of people were skeptical of Nick Casario still. And for what, for many
09:57reasons, I think, then one of them was that they didn't feel like that he was genuinely
10:02going to let D'Amico make this his team. And, and I understand why people felt that way
10:08because they'd just gone through two years where frankly they had a bridge coach in place
10:13in each of those years for the best moment. And, and it was a, there was a lot of wait
10:22and see. And I think this year, I think that's all been erased. I think Nick Casario is as
10:27well-liked as he's ever been in this city. And I don't think anybody has any question
10:31about whether he and D'Amico have a good productive working relationship. No, no. And it's, it's
10:36not even that we have clarity on what the relationship is. It's that it's even better
10:39than I think the average fan could have imagined it would have been. It's, it's that good.
10:44Number one for me is among storylines is like, this is CJ's team now. Like CJ, he owns the
10:50place now. Um, last year, this time the question was, is he going to be the starting quarterback
10:57week one? And now we're 12 months later. And the question is, could he be the MVP of the
11:01league this year? Like that's how big, that's how big a difference there is. It's not, okay,
11:06here's CJ's reps. And now here's cases reps. And now here's Davis's reps. And now we go
11:09ask D'Amico CJ's the starter lather, rinse, repeat. And we do this for 15 straight practices
11:15or whatever it is before he gets named. Like this is CJ's team now, you know, I think the
11:19biggest thing, like aside from CJ's core personality being one that, Hey, he, he consciously
11:27tries to keep a certain level of, of humility about him, you know, and understands that
11:32he still has a lot to learn and all of that. But then you add to that the, the arc of his
11:38rookie season was one in which it was a slow build as he just kind of methodically kept
11:45learning about the NFL and learning the offense better. And by the end of the season was operating
11:52like a veteran NFL quarterback. Sometimes when a rookie campaign, a lot of times these
11:59days it's a, because he's super athletic and that was not CJ's experience, you know, and
12:06a lot of the other time too, it's because he's playing on a team that has like a really,
12:10really good defense and also a really good rushing attack on offense to support him.
12:14CJ didn't have any of those things and he doesn't have the athleticism. That's not his
12:19calling card. You know, he's, he's just fine as an athlete by modern quarterback standards,
12:23but that wasn't what made him good as a rookie. Sometimes those guys, I think don't quite
12:28understand how hard it's going to get to be the second year. Like they don't, and you
12:33know, as a coach, sometimes when you've got an athletic quarterback, you're kind of like,
12:36you're trying to tell them like, okay, Hey, that's cool, man. But listen, we got to keep
12:40working on not using your legs to belly out of things. So he's going to be facing a lot
12:45of new challenges because the opponents have had six months to work on whatever perceived
12:50weaknesses they saw or whatever areas of opportunity they have. CJ understands and gets all that.
12:56And I don't think there's, I don't think he's in danger of a sophomore slim. I don't either.
13:00And you add in the fact that I think, I'm not saying it's a guarantee or anything that
13:05every, that each aspect of the offense, non CJ aspect is going to be better in 2024 than
13:11it was in 2023. But I think if I had to, like, I think that the betting favorite is it each
13:17of the like wide receiver is going to be better. You went and got Stefan digs. Yeah. I think
13:21tight end is going to be better. You know, you do you get Dalton Schultz in year two
13:24and you add Kate Stover to that mix to go with Brevin Jordan.
13:27I think the offensive line, if it's healthy, if it's healthy, is going to be at least better
13:32than it was early on last year for CJ. And then running back, you've got Joanne Singletary
13:38and you know, whatever Damian Pierce was struggling with last year. So, so they CJ, I think is
13:43going to be better just because he's wired that way. The schedule's a little harder,
13:46but they've done a really good job of setting him up for success. I think in year two.