Busy Monday Displays Change in Texans Way

The Houston Texans had a busy Monday that was handled better than the past

Monday will go down as a footnote in the history of the Houston Texans. The long timeline will barely remember what happened on Monday. It will be merely a sentence in the story the Houston Texans hope to tell.

Right now though, it’s a page that has turned from an organization that couldn’t get out of its way.

There are so many examples of a new outlook and change in the way this team is run, just from Monday.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans revealed C.J. Stroud will start the Thursday night preseason opener against the Patriots. This comes after three consecutive days of Stroud taking all of his reps with the first team.

Bill O’Brien would never. O’Brien screwed around with a quarterback competition even a child could see Deshaun Watson was winning in 2017. Then after he had created a fire, he played fireman at halftime of the first game of the season playing Watson against the Jacksonville Jaguars after Tom Savage had started.

Tytus Howard is set to miss at least a month with a broken hand. The Texans have a veteran with tons of playing experience ready to hold down his spot while Howard is gone. George Fant has started 60 games in the NFL.

In 2017 when Duane Brown was fighting with the team about his future and the team needed someone to replace Derek Newton, who was lost in 2016, the organization ran out Julie'n Davenport, Chris Clark, and Breno Giacomini. Oh, and two seasons later, they gutted two drafts to get Laremy Tunsil to replace Matt Kalil who could barely walk in training camp.

Even just talking about players sounds better. DeMeco Ryans revealed with a smile he has long coveted defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins. Bill O’Brien famously desired Chris Polk, Aaron Colvin, and Randall Cobb.

What about talking about rookies?

Bill O’Brien often avoided talking about rookies, even saying rookies don’t know anything. DeMeco Ryans gushes regularly about Will Anderson. Monday on the NFL Network Ryans chuckled as he said rookie wide receiver Tank Dell “has been…open a lot. It’s fun to see.”

The previous regimes, O’Brien as well as David Culley and Lovie Smith, made football seem so hard. The teams felt soulless at times.

This is different. There is a buzz around the team. An energy I haven’t felt in years. The players talk about it. They act like it too. Football in Houston is fun again.

Now, none of this matters if the team stinks. If the wins don’t come, all the smiles will be useless and the good vibes gone.

But for now, in the middle of the first half of training camp day, Monday was another example that things are different with the Houston Texans. In not just a good way, but a great way.