HOUSTON – Hello to all of you this is KPRC 2 sports director Randy McIlvoy checking in with his week’s Texans newsletter.
COUNTDOWN TO THE NFL DRAFT
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As I write this on Thursday, we are officially 28 days out from the start to the 2023 NFL Draft. Are you ready? The Texans have 12 picks as of now although that can easily change with trades between now and April 27.
Take a look at where the Texans sit with regards to upcoming draft picks.
Texans Draft position:
Round 1, Pick 2
Round 1, Pick 12 (from CLE)
Round 2, Pick 33
Round 3, Pick 65
Round 3, Pick 73 (from CLE)
Round 4, Pick 104
Round 5, Pick 161 (from DAL)
Round 6, Pick 188 (from NYG)
Round 6, Pick 201 (from MIN)
Round 6, Pick 203 (from NO)
Round 7, Pick 230 (from TB)
Round 7, Pick 259*
TOP QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH DEMECO RYANS AT NFL OWNERS MEETINGS IN ARIZONA
What’s the most important thing you look for in a quarterback?
“For a quarterback, I think the most important attribute I look for, it’s that how is his leadership style. How are those other 10 guys looking – can they look at you in a huddle and know, we can count on this guy to make a play. We believe in you. Then you have to look across the ball, and it’s those other 11 guys, those defensive guys, can they look to that guy, and can they count on him. Is that quarterback a guy who can galvanize a locker room and rally the troops and get the guys to believe in him. That’s the trait. It’s easier said than done because only so few guys can do that, and it’s special guys, and that’s a special position. When you can find a guy that his teammates can rally behind him, teammates believe in him, that’s when you know you have a guy.”
Is there a quality or such that you’ve seen in someone who can do that as a rookie?
“Every player is different. Some rookies can do it better than others. Some it takes time to develop. It’s a unique position, and it’s not just a cookie cutter one size fits all. There’s many different ways to get that done, and I’ve seen many different styles work.”
Is there a balancing act with a new team, you want to bring in some new guys who know you and know your system because you don’t want to bring too many? How did DB Jimmie Ward fit into that?
“Yeah, it is a balancing act. Initially you want to bring guys in who know exactly how I want things done, how our culture will be set. You want to bring those guys in but also knowing it doesn’t just work that day. To be able to get a guy like Jimmie Ward is very vital for our defense. Jimmie is a guy, I feel – he plays safety in our scheme. He’s played nickel. Jimmie is a veteran guy who’s played a lot of football. With the younger guys that we have, we have a very young group, young nucleus of players who are talented. I feel like Jimmie can come in and just help those guys, aside from the football aspect but also just off the field, just how to be a true pro. That’s what Jimmie provides and brings to those guys, and excited to get a guy who can do it and the leadership role he can provide off the field, and on the field Jimmie is still playing football at a high level. So, to add a safety who can make dynamic plays for us was very vital.”
What have you seen from QB Bryce Young, particularly his size?
“For Bryce (Young), I know it’s a lot, going on to talk about his size. The guy has done it at the highest level in college football and size hasn’t seemed to be a problem. I don’t see it as an issue because you watch the tape, and you put on the tape, and you see the kid play, and you see how smart he is. You see the anticipation. You see the accuracy. You see how this guy is calm in critical moments. When you see those things, size isn’t one of the factors that pop up on tape that’s like, oh, man, it’s a problem. Again, you just look at the track record, see what he’s done in the SEC, highest level of college football he’s been successful, and I think he’ll be successful in the NFL, as well.”
How important is it to fortify the offensive line and defensive line?
“The O-line, D-line, as I talked about earlier, that’s the important piece to building a football team. You have to build it from inside out, and to add interior defensive linemen, to add really good offensive linemen to our team, that’s going to be vital to us moving forward and being successful. That’s where it all starts. If we can’t play well up front, we’re not going to be a good football team. We want to continue to add up front as much as we can on the defensive end, offensive side, add as much depth as we can, because you lose those guys at times, so you have to have enough depth, you have to be able to rotate guys on the defensive side, and you have to have solid guys in the offensive line that you can count on and that can run the ball behind those guys and they can also protect.”
I don’t think you would have seen this, but QB Lamar Jackson just tweeted just now about his stance with the team. It looks like he’s requested a trade here. Is that a player that strikes interest? How do you go about looking at that and exploring veteran quarterbacks?
“We look at all options for our team. That falls into that category, as well.”
If you were to look last year, you talk about intangibles for quarterbacks, if you look at last year in QB Brock Purdy, can you tell me from the time he first came in in minicamp, what did you see in him, and how did that develop during the year?
“From the player, you just see him coming into the spring, you really don’t know who he is. He’s Mr. Irrelevant, last picked, and you weren’t expecting much. You continue to see this guy just make some throws in practice, you’re like, whoa, and it’s eye opening, and we continued to go through training camp, we go through the season, and with him being our scout team quarterback, he’s fitting some balls in and he’s making some very difficult throws, making some nice plays, moving throughout the pocket, scrambling, still creating on the move, and when you see our defenders, Fred Warner, he’s like, oh, man, I’m telling you, this Brock Purdy, he’s legit. He had that kind of ‘it’ factor that I was talking about earlier when the defenders, they see it, and they notice it, and they want to get behind the guy. That’s what Brock had. He had the ‘it’ factor where he had that play-making ability to where it galvanized the defense. They were behind him, and they knew he had something special to him, and everybody believed in him because you can see the type of plays that he was making.”
One of the things that I think sometimes people don’t look at that much in football is the number of how much he played in college. I look at a guy like QB Bryce Young or QB CJ Stroud, they played a lot in college, so they know there’s going to be some failure in everything. Is that important for you to gauge? Do you value experience a lot at the college level?
“I do value experience. I think experience is the best teacher, and that’s what you saw from Brock (Purdy) last year. Brock played – he started for four years there at Iowa State, and he had experience, so when he got in a game, it wasn’t too big for him. That’s what I tell guys; the game doesn’t change as much. Yeah, guys get a little better around you, but the game doesn’t change much, and Brock had that confidence about him because he had been through a lot of situations. He’s played a lot of ball. Not only that, but his preparation, what he did when he wasn’t playing, after practice he was with our quarterback coach, Coach (Klay) Kubiak, and he was working with him, going through the entire script. Yeah, he can put the work in, he has the experience, but also what is he doing behind the scenes when everyone else is in the locker room getting ready to go, he’s still out there on the field working. So, it’s about having a special work ethic at that position, as well, that sets you apart from everyone else.”
One question about what you’re doing in Houston. What are some ways that you’re actually trying to do things to turn around the attitude of this team?
“I think you change the culture with – it’s the people. It’s bringing in guys who have been part of winning programs. Those guys establishing how do winners practice, how do winners work in the weight room, how do winners handle themselves off the field, and when you add those guys to your team, that’s how the culture continues to change. You come in, you add younger college guys, draft guys or undrafted free agents, and they just fall underneath that leadership of the guys that we’ve added, so is there something grand, and it’s about the culture change, it’s about the people. If we bring the right people in who have the right work ethic, the right mindset, that’s how the culture starts to shift, and that’s how we build a winning program.”
How does that change the internal conversation? Following everything you said earlier about quarterbacks, now the team needs a quarterback
“It was something that we can’t control, so when the Panthers moved up, we already had Chicago in front of us. We couldn’t control – we’re still at No. 2, so nothing has changed from that perspective. At the end of the day, we have to pick where we are, and we’ll make the best pick for our organization when that time comes. We don’t worry about things that are outside of our control. We can’t control what the Panthers are doing. We can’t control who they’ll pick, and we’re not concerning ourselves, we’re not losing sleep over what the Panthers will do at No. 1.”
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