HOUSTON \u2014 As quarterback C.J. Stroud returns to lead the Houston Texans for a third season, his offense has a much different look than it did a year ago.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Houston Texans opened camp with\u00a0a new offensive coordinator in Nick Caley after Bobby Slowik was fired and longtime left tackle Laremy Tunsil was traded to the Washington Commanders in the offseason
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Top receiver Nico Collins and leading rusher Joe Mixon are back
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In other moves on offense, Houston traded for receiver Christian Kirk, signed receiver Justin Watson and drafted Iowa State receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel before signing running back Nick Chubb last month
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Chubb should get a lot of work early in camp with Mixon opening camp on the non-football injury list after missing minicamp with an ankle injury<\/p>\n
Top receiver Nico Collins and leading rusher Joe Mixon are back. But the Texans have a new offensive coordinator in Nick Caley after Bobby Slowik was fired and longtime left tackle Laremy Tunsil was traded to the Washington Commanders in the offseason.<\/p>\n
In other moves on offense, Houston traded for receiver Christian Kirk, signed receiver Justin Watson and drafted Iowa State receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel before signing running back Nick Chubb last month.<\/p>\n
Chubb should get a lot of work early in camp with Mixon opening camp on the non-football injury list after missing minicamp with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year you\u2019re looking to add more and more to your team,\u201d coach DeMeco Ryans said Wednesday as the Texans opened camp. \u201cI\u2019m excited about the receivers that we\u2019ve added. The young guys, Noel, Higgins, also with Kirk, Watson, all the guys we\u2019ve added at those spots will definitely enhance our offense, giving us more options for where the football can go, and that will help our quarterback a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texans needed depth at receiver after veterans Stefon Diggs and Robert Woods left in free agency and with Tank Dell out indefinitely recovering from a gruesome knee injury sustained in December.<\/p>\n
Even though it\u2019s early, Stroud has already been impressed by his rookie receivers. Higgins, who has been compared to Collins, had 87 receptions for 1,183 yards and nine touchdowns last season for the Cyclones and Noel added 80 catches for 1,194 yards and eight scores.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve came in with a great mindset,\u201d Stroud said. \u201cThey are really mature guys. Guys who love to work, consistently, here at the building or working with me in the offseason. So, I\u2019m really excited to see those guys\u2019 growth and see them take a step forward each and every day. Not going to be perfect for them, but I think they\u2019re going to make a lot of plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Texans addressed their need at receiver, their most pressing issue is improving the offensive line after Stroud was sacked 52 times last season, which ranked second in the NFL. Though Tunsil was penalty-prone, he was Houston\u2019s most consistent lineman, and replacing him won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n
Second-round pick Aireontae Ersery could be Houston\u2019s left tackle of the future after starting 38 games at the position over three seasons at Minnesota. But veteran Cam Robinson will likely open the season at left tackle while Ersery adjusts to the NFL.<\/p>\n
Ryans knows everyone is concerned about the offensive line after Stroud was sacked eight times in a 23-14 loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m going to get a ton of questions about the offensive line and what it looks like,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cYou guys will see what it looks like when we line up across from another team and we get a chance to actually compete in live reps. Me talking to you is probably not going to convince anybody here \u2026 we\u2019ll see what it looks like, man. I\u2019m excited about the group because I know they\u2019ll be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stroud is also looking to take another step after leading the Texans to the postseason in each of his first two seasons. Stroud threw for 3,727 yards with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 17 games last season after winning AP Offensive Rookie of the Year in his debut when he had 4,108 yards passing with 23 TD passes and just five interceptions in 15 games.<\/p>\n
He was asked what the biggest lesson he learned last year was that he believes will help him this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trust the process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about what people think, who people think you are, what they think you are or when they think you should do it. It\u2019s about your process and how you\u2019re going to go about it. If God is happy, your teammates are happy and yourself, then you\u2019re good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 As quarterback C.J. Stroud returns to lead the Houston Texans for a third season, his offense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[12606,1615,2910,9819,229,7,221,253,2368,6,11374,20889,9,222,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-231890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-app-professional-sports","9":"tag-app-sports","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-austin","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-texans","16":"tag-houstontexans","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-professional-football","19":"tag-san-antonio","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-texans","22":"tag-texas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114907318139608310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}