LIVE: Houston Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and Players address the media

LIVE: Houston Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and Players address the media

you. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. 21. 21. You old enough to get your driver’s license? Old enough for that for sure. Old enough for my driver’s license. No. Thank you guys for the uh birthday wishes. It’s It’s a great Always great for me. I’ve always worked on my birthday. So, it’s always been training camp. So, that’s a normal for me. Everybody always asks, “Hey, what are you doing for your birthday?” I’m training camp. Working, sweating. So, it’s a great day though. Really grateful, blessed to see another year and never take it for granted. And thank you guys for the warm welcome. Talk about the first day of pass. Talk about how things will start to ramp up. What you see today? With it being the first day of pass, what stood out first and foremost, guys did a really great job of just staying up off the ground. We want guys to still be able to protect each other. We’re still teammates. Understand we want to play physical football, but we got to protect each other. I thought our guys came out did a really good job of that. And you can see our running backs really running the football how it will look. Playing physical behind their pass. I thought those guys uh Chub did a really good job today with a couple runs. Also, Jaw. So, and our defense as well had they stepped up, played physical, nice couple nice thuds, nice tackles in there. So, I’m excited. First day of pass, everybody was safe. That’s my So, I’m happy to get out clean today. Saturday about Joe Mixon. What What changed as far as diagnosis? Yeah, nothing’s changed with Joe. Joe is still working, you know, in the background. I know we get reports about Joe. Nothing sh he’s still working. Whenever it’s time for Joe to be back, he’ll be back. Right? I know a lot of people want to report a lot of things about guys with injuries. My thing is this is are you really concerned about our guys? Are you really uh just trying to get something out there, right? And for me, I always put my players health and safety first and foremost. So, I care about the guys. So, you guys don’t hear me talking a lot about injuries because that’s their personal information. guys working through that and it’s nothing to report or or get in an uproar about. Like our guys are working and that’s it’s always sensitive to me because I’ve been there. I’ve went through that. So it’s not just to report something to report something like want people here who truly care about our guys. I care about our guys and what they’re doing throughout their process and it’ll continue to be that way. Hey Dico, I think speak with us today. What have you what have you seen from him now that he’s healthy and went health and what can he bring to this offense? And what I’ve seen from Brevin, man, he’s excited to be back on the field playing football. You know, Brevin has spoke, he just said, you know, you talk about how rough of a time it is with injuries and to be missing football, missing your teammates, missing being out here on the field. So, he’s so grateful to be back out here and you see that excitement on his face. You see how he attacks today. I think one of his first plays out, he made a caught a short pass and I it reminded me of the play he had versus the Browns where he he took one the distance, right? And that’s what Brev can do. He’s an explosive playmaker and I’m excited to see him back out here working with a smile on his face. Why was he an important player to bring back the season last year? Yeah, it was important to bring Brevin back on an extension because I see a very talented young player who’s really loves football and I know he can help us whether it’s passing game, running game. He’s doing a really great job of working at the line of scrimmage, working on the blocking as well. So, I see a really a a an ascending young player and when you got an ascending young player in your building, we want to keep as many of those guys here as we can. So, I’m happy to, you know, lock Brevin up for a few more years. You guys were able to add CJ. What was already successful secondary? What do you What excites you about the potential that What excites me about the potential of our our secondary group adding adding CJ is, you know, you don’t add it’s not just another player. you’re adding a a Pro Bowl allp proc caliber player with a Super Bowl pedigree who’s done it at a high level. Brings others along with him. Like he’s a true leader uh by example and by talking like he does a really great job of motivating guys, getting guys to go and he’s a very, you know, thoughtful guy. Asks really great questions, right? Really smart player. Ask great questions, making sure everybody’s on the same page. And that’s what a safety has to be. The safety has to be an elite communicator along with the mic linebacker and that’s what CJ has done for us. Do a really great job of communicating. Now when the ball is snapped, you know, any one of those guys back there can go make plays. So I like their play style and I love the way they’re jelling and coming together. You mentioned the fact that you were through the injuries when you were a player and you’re sensitive to that. What about sensitive as a player when you’re hearing reports or whatever that might be that you can relate to? Yeah, for me it’s everybody doesn’t have all the information. We have all the information on our guys. So when you talk about injuries and all of this with the guys as a player, you’re sitting there and you everybody wants to report about who’s not out here and what they’re not doing. I would like to talk about the guys that are here and the guys who are are are busting their tails out here on the field in this in this hot climate, the humidity, guys are working, grinding. I want to highlight these guys who are doing a great job. understand our guys who aren’t out here, guys are in the back end, they’re doing the same thing. They’re working just as hard as the guys who are out here. And I just always think it’s unfair for everybody to always jump to be first to report something about an injury and is not taking that player into consideration. When it comes to take a couple more when it comes to the trenches, the pads can be a great equalizer. Did you see that happen today for the offensive line with you actually put your hands on him a little bit more by putting on the pads today? He did. I saw our O line do a nice job of blocking blocking the DNS, DNS, D tackles. They also did a great job of of getting after them as well. It’s going to be really great competition, right? Our O line gets to go against one of the top D lines in the league every single day. You get to go against the top guys. So, everybody’s going to get better from that. And so, that’s what I saw today. a player like Chub, how much of what he went through from an injury standpoint a couple years ago comes into evaluating where he is and maybe not trying to compare him pre-injjury status and just kind of take what he does out here. Yeah, when it comes to Chub and how am I comparing him? You know, guy’s age, he’s been through a lot. You know, it’s not always going to be the same as his early years in the NFL, but what I what I hang my hat on with him is just this guy loves football. He’s physical. He plays the right way. He prepares himself the right way. Really sharp guy. When it comes to the protection scheme, he’s on it. He’s helping out the guys. Coach Danny Barrett has done a great job of bringing him along, getting caught up to our scheme. And so I, you know, seeing him today, he definitely showed up in the past today. A guy who can play physical behind his pass. He can eat out yardage. So I’m excited to see him just play football. And that’s what he’s always been. He’s always been a tremendous, you know, football player, especially when he’s healthy. So, he’s still working his way working his way back and it looks like he’s in in really good shape and he’ll continue to get better now going through camp. Everybody continues to get better the more you go through it and I see the same you know with Chub. All good. All right. Thank you guys. You were here for the start of the now walking in year three. What’s the biggest difference you see walking here now as compared to when you first started? Uh the culture set now obviously you know new new coach comes in uh you know working overtime to try to get his identity imprinted within the framework of the team and uh getting the team to function without him having to you know uh say every little thing over and over again. So I think you know obviously coming back you know same quarterback leading the team and then defense you know a lot of continuity um his his culture is set you know so I think uh you know it’s easy to kind of get back in here and honestly kind of feel my role like I did last time and then uh and just get back to playing ball. So then one of the guys that was very happy to have you back is Will Anderson Jr. You’re mentoring Louisiana just in terms of relationship on and off the field. What’s it like to be back with Will? Uh, it’s great. Um, you know, like you said, when I was here last time, you know, I kind of gladly took him under my wing and, uh, helped him with all facets of the game. you know, obviously, you know, he’s his talent speaks for itself, but, you know, helping him with a lot of the, you know, film study and, you know, the emotions of the game and helping him understand, oh, it’s a long season and how to prepare to, you know, go through your prog, you know, your your process and, um, and see progress through other ways other than, you know, sack totals and different things like that. So, um, getting back here and seeing the, you know, his maturation and, um, picking right back up where we left off, you know, whether it’s a look here, a look there, a glance here, a glance there. Um, you know, we all, we’ve always kind of spoke the same language on the football field. So, um, you know, getting back and playing next to him again. Um, I said, it’s just, you know, it’s like waking up in the morning. It’s like breathing. It’s just it’s something we we we’ve done really easily. So, looking for big things for us both this year. How do you feel? when you talk about the the cultures here pointed out like that sort of that guy that everybody point somebody that person yeah listen I um I appreciate that you know uh I think um you know I think I’ve always taken pride in doing things the right way you know I think uh you know coming in and you know when I had a chance to talk to De Mo prior to my first time coming here you know I could just tell you know again I I’ve known people that played for him know people that that knew him personally uh and then getting a chance to talk to him and talk ball with them uh talk philosophy with him I understood we saw things the same and then understanding uh when I came here the first time uh it was going to be a young team it was going to be you know a group full of guys who uh you know didn’t necessarily you know understand what it was like to win uh and win at this level and win at a high level. So, um coming in, I’ve always done my best. I’m not a big rah guy. I don’t don’t do a whole bunch of talking. Uh honestly, most guys have probably never seen me do more than a you know, head nod, what’s up? Or or yo, you know, that’s about all I got for people most times. But um you know just within pulling guys aside or you know with in between drills or just you know sitting at the you know the the lunch table or something just being able to to kind of talk guys through you know what it’s like to be successful for a long time in this league and and what it’s going to take for us to continue to grow and get to that next level. So you know I take pride in being you know uh a voice of reason you know for Demo within the locker room and amongst these players. So it looks like you’re back to your old self. What did you go through last year? What were some things that was adversity that you experienced? Yeah. Um getting back. Yeah. So, um dealt with some health stuff last year. Um you know, I I won’t uh too much deep dive into it. Uh you know, I kind of hit on, I guess, the you know, the the biggest one that kind of took me out of playing, which was the uh I ended up having a shingles outbreak and viral menitis at the same time. Um, and that kind of knocked me out for a while. So, you know, I that, you know, a lot of people don’t know and a lot of people thought, you know, oh, you know, what what what type of illness or what type of thing could have someone out for this long? And, you know, I mean, you know, a lot of people don’t know I was literally laying horizontal in in my house in a dark house for probably about a month and a half before I could really even sit up without, you know, feeling kind of crazy. So, um, went through all that. I mean throughout the process of that end up you know I started the season last year probably around 300 lb by the end of dealing with all of that um you know along with some other things I was probably down to 255 you know so lost all my strength lost all the weight power uh even by the time I played my last game November 7th against Baltimore I was low 270s high 260s so um wasn’t myself last year and uh you know um you know by the grace of God I’m able to uh you know, still come out here and and compete and do things at a high level. So, uh you know, I I worked my ass off this whole season to to ensure not only uh physically that I could come out here and play, but uh mentally I was past a lot of the stuff and um healthwise, internally that I was, you know, able to kind of check things off my list and get back to to to feeling great because I know when I feel great, I can be a difference maker. We’ll focus. How you feeling now? How do you feel like your game has evolved from the last time you were here? Yeah. Uh I feel great. I feel great being back out here running around in this heat. Um you know, back to playing in a defense I love playing in. Uh that fits me, fits my skill set. Um, I feel like I’ve continued to ascend, whether it’s my, uh, pass rush repertoire. Uh, you know, being able to I’ve always kind of been a guy that’s able to, you know, high football IQ, be able to identify things on the fly, help guys get lined up, you know, amidst the chaos and and and kind of call things on the fly, whether I see something, like I said, whether it’s giving Will a look, telling Tim something. Um, and then, you know, just uh continuing to work on on strength and flexibility to be able to to continue to be stout against the run as well. So, I feel like I’m I’m back to being the complete player I was and continuing to ascend and continuing to be a better player. And it looks like you’re having fun out there, too. I mean, back two days ago on the side. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. How much does that chemistry kind of put you guys ahead of the ball, man? It it it it matters a lot. I tell I I tell people all the time, man, you know, the the the more you can kind of, you know, play with guys, and you know, uh you you understand the way certain guys move, the way certain guys are going to attack certain things, um it helps you play faster because you know where guys are going to end up. You know, you know, I know how Will rushes. I know what he’s thinking against certain sets. I know he’s thinking against certain looks. If a tight end motions in, he doesn’t have to tell me chip alert or something like that. I see it. I know what he’s thinking. Cool. We can work off of that. Um, so you know, h having that continuity goes a long way. And, you know, we’re not necessarily worried about the defensive call and where my assignment is. It’s more so worried about going out and attacking the call and and trying to make the play. It’s a race to make the play at that point. Thank you very much. you look at your adjustment and was talking today about playing behind your pads or running and eating up yards. How are you feeling out there and you feel like you’re getting back to your old? Yeah, I feel good. You know, it’s been great to get a chance to come out here and play play some more football. Um, it’s been a while for me, so, you know, I love it out here. It’s it’s been great getting back. What do you like most about this offensive night? I love most about the guys that’s around me in the huddle. You know, the big guys up front, the receivers, tight ends, and you know, and CJ, I mean, bunch of guys who who play with intent, who love to practice, love to work hard and get better every day. What have your conversations been with the new? Yeah, I tell you, Nick, he’s he’s very smart. He’s super intelligent. He loves ball. Um, he’s always thinking of the next play and um it’s been great to work with him. Coach Barry said that coach Barry said that if you all the only difference between you and Woody is when y’all take your jerseys off that’s how he’s able to tell the difference between you all. You know, both Georgia boys both play the same. How much does that mean to you to be able to give back to a rookie like Woody Mark to help him come up to the Yeah, it’s super important to me. You know, not only that, but you know, Woody is a Georgia boy, so you know, definitely that’s like a brother to me already. So, um he he’s been great. You know, he’s he’s super smart, too. And he’s super athletic, super fast. I mean, he can run the ball, he can catch the ball, he do everything they ask him to do. So, he’s a he’s a he’s a great player. I look forward to watching. Do you see the similarities? Yeah, I do. On the field, how often do you feel like your prej for yourself when you’re out there? Well, what do you mean? Like, is there ever a moment where you’re like, “Okay, injury’s behind me. Like, I feel great today.” Yeah, man. That was two years ago, so I’m getting over the hump, you know? Look, I just come out here and um try to try to be best I can. How is this, you know, getting these elevated first team reps, uh, kind of help you, you know, get get used to this new team and get used to this new offense? It helps a lot. I need every rep I can get, you know. Um, it’s been I’ve been like I’ve been played. I got hurt last December, so I’ve been in pad since. So, it’s great to get out here, get a chance, get passed on, get hit, you know, move around a little bit. You spend your entire career in one place. How would you describe that that process transition for a good city, new organization to learn everything? It is a process. You know, I was where I was for seven years. So, I got I got very comfortable and used to things there, how things are done there. So, probably small things is like learning how they do this, how they do that, you know, what how much time you have before practice and just the small things that I got to get used to. Other than that, I mean, the guys have embraced me. You know, I know a bunch of guys on the team. Uh I knew some of the coaches, too. So, it’s been fun. And what stands out about like the city and just the organization that you Well, for one, it’s hot and it’s humid. Uh that that’s the biggest difference between here and Cleveland. But other than that, I mean, it’s the city’s nice, you know, it’s it’s cool. Nice. A lot of traffic, I guess. But other than that, I mean, I’m enjoying it here. As a veteran, you know, when loose long time the first game, do you feel the explosiveness, the twitchiness kind of coming back? You you know your body, you know, when you’re cutting and doing things at the highest levels. How do you feel like that ramp up process? It’s going good. It’s hard. It’s hard to get a burst when the defense is playing so good over there. But I mean, other than that, every chance I get to get a quick 10 yard burst after the play’s, you know, done, I can just anything I can to get to get in better shape. Obviously, uh Joe’s going through something recovering, but how much has he helped you and the other guys? Joe, how much has he helped you and the other running guys behind the scenes, you know, when he’s not pract? Yeah, he’s super helpful. You know, Joe Joe’s a vet, too. He’s been in the game a long time. Um he’s always there for us. Anything we need, you know, he has it back. That was my question. Thank you. Thank you. What’s up, y’all? How are you? Good. How y’all doing? Good. Good to have you back. Appreciate you, bro. What does it feel like to be back out there doing what you love to do, man? uh feel it was unbelievable, bro. Uh 10 months of, you know, just isolation, just being in the house and being here was uh was tough, bro. Like being back out here on the field and it’s hot and uh it’s competitive, but man, I don’t I don’t take it for granted, bro. It just feels so good to be, you know, back with my teammates. Did you learn anything about yourself last year? Were you out or waiting for Yeah. Yeah. I think I I think I just I I relied a lot on God, but for me it was just just staying grounded, you know, staying true to my foundation, my faith, uh my teammates, my family. It was it was a hard process, but as crazy might sound, it it wasn’t that hard. It wasn’t that hard to to be honest with you. I remember talking to you after the Bears game and I had no idea until the next day that you had torn your ACL. Mhm. How did you finish the game? Bro, I had I I honestly have no clue how what play when, how I did it. It was just one of those things that you know your adrenaline is running so hard and you just find out the next day like your ACL torn. I It was honestly I’m still kind of like shocked about it still to this day like dang I tore my ACL and didn’t had no clue. So it was pretty crazy. where you got a chance to see this Nick Kelly offense and how it operates and how it works as him being a former tight end coach. Can you tell the difference in the sets with you all that tight end group? Yeah, man. It’s I’m excited to work with Kelly. His his energy is infectious. Uh he’s real smart. He’s real passionate to to have the offensive coordinator be a tight end’s coach and he’s constantly, you know, coming over to our individuals and he’s constantly coming into our tight end room to just, you know, check in with us. It’s it’s it’s awesome, bro. So, I’m excited to to work with him and see how this this offense progresses throughout the year. You an ascending player just a few moments ago. Um, you know, what did it mean to you? You know, they obviously brought you back with the injury mid-season last year. What did it mean to you that you know, they wanted to sign you and bring you back even with all the injury? Man, it was it was unbelievable. I love I love the city of Houston. I love this coaching staff. I love my teammates. for them to resign me, you know, and have faith in me that, you know, I could be uh somebody that they can rely on to make plays on Sundays that they can look to their left or to the right and know that I’m going to do my job. It’s unbelievable, man. I love the city of Houston. I love this coaching staff and I I never take it for granted, you know, just being here. You’ve been out here for all five practices. Did you already feel it or is there a point you feel like you Oh, I Man, I’ve been feeling like I mean from the jump, bro. Honestly, from the from the first practice, I was ready to go. Like, in spring, I was ready to go. I was running routes in spring and I hit 21.7 m per hour at one point in my RTF training. Like, man, I’m I’m I’m ready to go. I’m faster. I’m stronger. I I’ve been able to sit back and watch the game from a from a a different point of view. So, man, I’m I’m ready to go. I’m ready to just play on Sundays. Revan as a group you D the other guys how strong do you feel like it is that do you guys have a little chip on your shoulder said what about the tight end spot yeah no we have an unbelievable group I think I think people aren’t giving you know the tight end group enough credit for whatever reason but I think this year we’re going to be able to show everybody that this is a group that we can rely on on special teams on offense that we’re going to go out there we’re going to be able to block a defensive end one-on-one tram to a mic and then go run a you know 50 or get to catch a 50 yard touchdown. So that’s that’s the expectations from everybody on our in our room. How important how important was it to you to make sure that even though you were going through rehab that you were around this team, still around this team, still supporting this team when you how have you given that advice to Tank? Tank is my guy. First of all, that dude right there is a a trooper, a soldier, man. That dude is working his tail off. He’s He’s rehabing like crazy. And I’m excited to see him come back because I tell him all the time, bro, like, yeah, we have different injuries, but I’m better right now. I’m faster. I’m stronger. My quad and my knee feels unbelievable. When he comes back from that from that injury, he’s going to be 10 steps ahead. I’m excited to see him come back. I just tell him every day, just keep going. You know, I got it tatted on my my leg, but it says keep going every day. So, that’s it’s just a a steady process. The the journey is the reward. It’s never about an end goal. It’s always about the journey. Is that something that you got during this process or was that something that you know I think for me the journey is the reward has been my whole NFL career. I’ve taken it, you know, everybody talks about a breakout year or or this or that from the outside noise. And to me, man, like I come every day with the mentality that it’s game day. Like I I love football. I love being able to shoot suit up and put my pads on and and just come out here. Like I love the game. It’s my whole life has been the journey is the uh the reward. There’s no such thing as an end goal. journey itself being able to go through this whether you have a breakout you have to keep going whether you have a badge you have to keep going like the journey is a reward other than obviously trying to get what you want to work on to get better at coming into this man honestly everything being able to just show that I’m a reliable a reliable teammate that they can trust me to go out there and man on the defensive end or run a route like just being accountable being a complete three down tight end a special teams core player being accountable in all phases of the game. Like your personal situation in all of your camps has been kind of extremely different. What is the difference this year compared to the others? Yeah. Like when you look at it from a physical Yeah. Honestly, nothing really feels different in terms of like the camp mentality. But for me, I think now that I’m older and I’ve been in the league five years, I just understand that we don’t get a lot of ops. Like in practice and every team period, every guy gets maybe one or two ops. Like you have to capitalize on those opportunities. If you have a a run gap, a run a run play, you have to capitalize on that run play. Like I just look at it like every play is a play to earn the coach’s trust and my teammates trust. That’s as simple as that. coming back from a a lower a lower body injury like you had. You know, we know that you have to get out of rehab as far as with running is concerned. Did you say from day one that this is going to be a run offense as well? What did you do to get yourself prepared to be a blocking tight end? No doubt, man. Shout out to our RTF team, Ryan Grubs and Ethan Gold. They did an unbelievable job of just making sure I was ready for game time situations. I was blocking the sleds at like four months, 3 months into my rehab. I was already doing. They were already thinking ahead of that. And so our RTF teams, man, just did an unbelievable job. It was one of those things where they make sure that we’re ahead of the of like of our of the game. They they’re they’re really a sharp staff. Appreciate y’all. Appreciate y’all.

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