HOUSTON — Houston Texans first-year coach DeMeco Ryans was back in a familiar place on Friday morning, and it showed on his face as he displayed the signature smile that the media and fans have grown accustomed to.
The 2023 rookie class for the Texans began their three-day minicamp at Houston Methodist Training Center. It was a time for the young men to acclimate to the daily regiment of conducting themselves as NFL players once the season starts.
“The most important thing for me is for those guys to have a just a general understanding of the terminology, offense, defense, and terminology,” Ryans said after practice. “Learning the offense, it’s like learning a new language, so then you have to learn how to speak that language and speak it fluently, especially for [quarterback] C.J. (Stroud) stepping in the huddle and making the play calls. How much and how quickly can they grasp the terminology and be able to communicate that effectively on the field?”
Ryans, who also had a very productive tenure as an NFL player, also wants to teach the rookies the importance of maintaining themselves and continuing to learn away from the field.
“Getting in the training room, hydration, food, whatever they need, and then what we’ll do with our guys is we’ll have more meetings,” said Ryans when asked about the daily routine he is implementing for the rookies. “We’ll have special teams’ meetings and have individual meetings. Those guys will come in, be able to watch the film with their coaches, and the coaches will be able to coach them up individually on things they need to improve on, and then we’ll have a benchmark for tomorrow to see that actual improvement and show them again after tomorrow’s practice.”
“It is a matter of us coming together collectively and doing what’s best for the Texans,” said head coach DeMeco Ryan’s when I asked about the new coaches along with himself getting adjusted to their roles during rookie minicamp. #WeAreTexans #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/1s6Il1zL5v
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) May 13, 2023
The rookies aren’t the only ones having to learn to adapt for the Texans. Ryans is in his first year as head coach after spending the last two seasons as defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and defensive coordinator Matt Burke are also making their rookie debuts as coordinators this season.
Ryans knows it is just as crucial for the new staff members to understand his way of running a football team and how they must work together to succeed.
“It’s a matter of us coming together collectively and doing what’s best for the Texans,” Ryans said. “We have a lot of guys coming from a lot of different places. Like we’re not trying to replicate what was done somewhere else. We’re trying to implement the things we need and what’s best for our team here. It’s a lot of guys coming together and just communicating on schedules and timing of practice. How long do we need to be out there and all of those things?
“There are a lot of smart people around here to help me out with that. Got a lot of good people. Our training staff, the strength staff, a lot of great people here to work with that’s made the transition to head coach loss easier.”
Houston will resume day two of the rookie minicamp on Saturday at Methodist Training Center.
