Friday afternoon, assembled media and various people associated with or employed by the Houston Texans got their first taste of football players doing football things since the end of last season, as the team's rookie class got their first taste of doing anything in the NFL for the first time ever. It was the Texans' 2025 rookie minicamp at the Methodist Training Center!
The rookies arrived into Houston on Thursday, and got their new jersey numbers and other relevant onboarding material:
Numbies for the rookies ✅ pic.twitter.com/wgDuZaUTOP
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) May 9, 2025
Formt here, it was Friday morning and time to get to work:
Had to check in on our rookies on their first day 🤘 pic.twitter.com/Tdqxr5zbqB
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) May 10, 2025
Despite the fact that the players were not in pads, and that there were really no one-on-one drills, let alone any hitting, there were still some relevant observations to be made. Here are a few:
The rookie class is, by and large, locked in and signed to their rookie contractsThere is rarely much drama when it comes to rookie contracts, as they are all four years long for drafted rookies, and, for the most part, have the salaries slotted. There are a few minor points of negotiation, but rarely anything that is a major roadblock. To that end, as of Sunday morning, all but one of the Texans rookies (second round pick, tackle Aireontae Ersery) had signed their rookie deals. In fact, the teams' top pick, second round WR Jayden Higgins, made history, as he is the first ever second round pick to get his contact — four years, $11.7 million — fully guaranteed.
Speaking of Higgins, the team's top draft pick, looked the partWhile Higgins made some history with his contract, it obviously remains to be seen exactly what his impact will be on the field. That said, the reasons he was taken 34th overall in the draft — great size, great catch radius, agile footwork — were well on display in drills on Friday. Higgins looked very smooth, and visually he really popped. If Higgins picks up the playbook quickly, opposing teams are going to have major issues with Higgins and Nico Collins on the outside. That is a BIG pair of athletic wide receivers.
A couple of the more intriguing rookies basically got private lessons for two days
There's always a strange numbers game at rookie minicamp. There were only nine drafted rookies, six undrafted rookies, and a couple tryout guys out there on Friday. So at some positions, there is literally just one player, and as a result, that player gets the equivalent of a private coaching session with his new position coach. Two such players on Friday and Saturday were RB Woody Marks and S Jaylen Reed, two Day 3 draft picks that could figure prominently into the team's depth this season. Both looked like they'd already spent time in an NFL weight room, with Marks, in particular, looking well put together as he ran agility drills and caught balls out of the backfield.
Remember the name — LaDarius Henderson
Henderson is not a rookie. The offensive tackle out of Michigan is a seventh round pick from last year's draft class. At one point, last year, Henderson was cut by the Texans, then brought back, and then injured for most of the last year. Henderson, though, has gotten himself into tremendous shape this offseason. In fact, on MY radio show last week, GM Nick Caserio brought up Henderson's name when I asked him about players who have changed their body types in the weight room these past few months. On an offensive line where every position is up for grabs, watch Henderson as a possible dark horse to get into the mix.
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