Here’s everything Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said following the first day of rookie minicamp, including overall takeaways, thoughts on the additions of defensive tackle Kayden McDonald and linebacker Aiden Fisher, along with what to expect moving into OTAs.
Question: On the purpose of today and rookie minicamp as a whole
DeMeco Ryans: “Today, we were excited to start our first day of rookie minicamp, for coaches and for the players. For us, as coaches, it’s our first opportunity to get the guys on the grass. We had a lot of meetings last night. You’re trying to see who can take the meetings to the field and how quickly these guys learn. One thing that I’ll say from our meetings and what I ask of guys… Our guys have been very attentive in meetings. You ask them questions, they’re loud, they’re giving feedback. Our coaches are doing a really great job throughout the meetings. Some of our younger coaches are also handling some of the meetings. Rookie minicamp is not only a place where we are developing our players, but also our assistant coaches get a chance to help out and coach some drills and handle some meetings. It’s been a really great start to the weekend.”
Q: On the culture he’s set in Houston
Ryans: “Our culture here is set. I don’t have to say much on it but I still have to make sure I teach our rookies what that looks like. A lot of guys are coming from a lot of different places all over the country, a lot of different schools that do things a lot of different ways. We’re just going to have to let them know how we do it here in Houston. It may be a little different but we believe in what we do here. We think it works. We build it around the people. That’s what you’ll notice about the draft class when you talk to them. It’s built on really high-character guys, starting with [G Keylan] Rutledge. A really great guy, loves football. He’s ready to put on pads today, so I had to slow him down. It’s exciting to work with these guys, exciting to see them. My main message for these guys, it’s not about coming out and being perfect today. I just want to see how they progress the next day.”
Q: On what he wants to see them takeaway from their few days here
Ryans: “The main thing I want to see our rookies come away with is the sense of urgency that we have here. They’re behind. Unfortunately… It’s great, you get drafted, you’ve got a lot of parties, a lot of hoopla, but you’re behind. Our veterans have already begun working out and you have to catch up. You’ve got to play catch-up and there’s going to be a lot of catching up to do. I want them to feel that sense of urgency and I want them to also understand and learn the guys that they’re working with. I ask them to sit with someone different each day, communicate with someone different, learn something about their teammates. The quicker we can earn that connection and get that connection and buy-in, I think that helps them along this process of a long rookie season.”
Q: On what he saw in undrafted P Jack Stonehouse that made them want to bring him in
Ryans: “For Jack we saw a guy that’s very consistent. He has a very strong leg. He does a great job of booting the ball. He had a really good first day today. You can hear the ball coming off his foot. That’s the thing that stood out about him today. Having that healthy competition is only going to make that position better when it comes to the punter position. We’ve got [P] Kai [Kroeger]. Kai’s done it in the league and now adding Jack is going to be really healthy competition coming through training camp.”
Q: On the players’ enthusiasm
Ryans: “For our rookies, you talk about the excitement. Yesterday I was walking through the halls, the first guy I saw was Febechi [Nwaiwu]. Seeing him, big smile on his face, gave me a big hug. Strong guy, stronger than I thought. He almost knocked me down. You feel that excitement. He’s excited to be here. We’re excited to have the guys here. The cool part about these rookie meetings, everybody in my meetings, everybody sitting in the front row to start the meetings. Everybody sitting in the front row, notebook out, eyes up, attentive. I always remember that picture and I tell the guys, ‘Remember where you’re sitting, remember how locked in you are. That’s where you should always be throughout your entire career. That helps you to become a really good pro.’ That’s exciting to see these guys not only show up with that kind of enthusiasm, but understand that here in Houston, that our culture is built around enthusiasm. Let’s continue to have that enthusiasm through those hot days of training camp that are coming as well.”
Q: On the biggest learning adjustment from college to the NFL
Ryans: “The biggest difference when it comes to learning, it starts with us as coaches. As a coach, I have to figure out how do my guys learn best? That comes from spending time with the guys, trying different techniques in your meeting rooms. Most importantly, I think you learn by actually doing it and that’s for all of us. You get better by actually doing it. For us, you not only spend time in the meeting room, but we want to make sure our meetings are not too long, too extensive. We want our guys to be able to get up, move around, and actually walk through the fundamentals, the techniques, the things we’re asking them to do. We want them to actually walk through it and that’s how guys learn best. As much as we can put them through those situations at a slow pace and then gradually speed it up, that’s when you can see the retention rate really pick up.”
Q: On DT Kayden McDonald
Ryans: “What I like about Kayden and his tape at Ohio State is the physicality, it shows up. When he’s across the line from an offensive lineman, no matter who it was, he was knocking those guys back in the backfield. That translates to Houston Texans defense. We want to knock guys back, he does that. He’s still a very young player who has so much room to grow, so much room to ascend. It starts right here today. You see him in his individual drills. He has the power. We can win with that type of power.”
Q: On the gameplan from Day 1 to Day 2 of the NFL Draft
Ryans: “Each day as we go throughout the draft process, Nick [Caserio] and myself, we get together, and we set our game plan today. It helped by having a pick high in the second round to where we can position ourselves in a spot where we see a player that we value that we had really high on our board and he’s still sitting there on Day 2, ‘Let’s find a way to get the guy on our team.’ We like Kayden. We visited with him on a 30 visit. We really, really liked the tape. We liked the visit. If we added this guy to our team, we knew he’d be an impact player for us. We found a way to do that. That starts with Nick and his preparation and knowing the needs of other teams, knowing how the board is probably going to fall, and him making the moves that we need to make to go get guys that we really want.”
Q: On what he liked about TE Marlin Klein
Ryans: “You see a big guy. Of course everyone knows his story. He’s from Germany. He came here at 15. He’s been through a lot and he’s overcome a lot. To see this kid grow into the football player that he’s become at the University of Michigan. He’s strong at the edge of the line of scrimmage, does a good job of blocking, sustaining blocks, running on his feet. It didn’t show up a ton, but when you see it, I feel like he can be a dynamic player in the passing game. Big, tall target, good hands to catch the ball. We just want to continue to work with him to develop him. He’s still a young player and our coaches have done a great job already. Caley and James [Ferentz] have done a great job working with him today in his individual drills.”
Q: On his message to the players after they leave this weekend
Ryans: “As our guys leave for the weekend, the first and most important thing is make sure you contact your mother. Make sure we understand that Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday. So, make sure they show some love to their mom. That’s the most important thing. Then the football aspect of things, we want to make sure they’re taking care of their bodies, they’re recovering the right way. They have to get back in with our veterans come Monday. They’re expected to fall right in line and get into the drills with those guys. It’s going to be a very quick process for them, a short weekend, but we’re going to make sure we take care of them the proper way. As coaches, we have to be conscious of how we’re loading these guys. They haven’t probably done as much football. We’ve got to make sure we’re conscious of their loading and make sure we get them prepared when it comes to our OTAs.”
Q: On LB Aiden Fisher
Ryans: “What I liked about Aiden Fisher, Indiana, you put on the tape and you instantly see a guy who’s a great communicator. You see him pointing, talking, directing traffic. That’s something you don’t see a lot in college football. He knows the safety rotation. You can see a guy who’s very sharp. He understands the entire defense of how the puzzle fits together. So, a really smart football player, All-American, made a ton of plays there in Indiana to lead them to a National Championship. I’m excited to add another tough, smart, dependable football player to our team.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said following rookie minicamp
Reporting by Cole Thompson, Texans Wire / Texans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
