Between a rookie class that's showing quite a bit of promise, some new faces on the offensive coaching staff, and the most scrutinized right shoulder in Houston (C.J. Stroud's), this has been one of the more newsworthy and relevant spring practice stretches for the Houston Texans in recent team history.
Along those lines, spring practice officially concludes this week for the Texans with two mandatory minicamps at the Methodist Training Center, Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, the players and coaches will disburse for about six weeks, before returning to Houston for training camp and embarking on a 2025 season in which expectations are their highest since 2019.
As mentioned above, the first minicamp session will be Tuesday morning. Here are my four biggest questions heading into these final two practice sessions:
4. Who exactly will be there?
The key word here is "mandatory." Unlike the offseason workouts in the gym, and the recent OTA sessions last week and the week before, all of which are voluntary, players are required to be at minicamp, unless they are willing to pay fines. Normally, the players that miss minicamp have some other sort of glitch going on with the team, usually contractual in nature. There are no Texans right now, at least publicly, with contract issues. A few of the veterans — most notably, Joe MIxon, Dameon Pierce, Danielle Hunter, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson — missed OTAs, but unless they're injured, I would expect all of them to be there this morning.
3. What is C.J. Gardner-Johnson all about?
Speaking of Gardner-Johnson, he is definitely the newcomer that I'm most looking forward to watch acclimate to his new teammates. He has undoubtedly been a major contributor to every team he's been part of, but this is now the fourth time that he's changed teams since 2021. In other words, he hasn't been on the same team two years in a row since 2021. Keep in mind, this is a PRODUCTIVE player we are talking about, with six interceptions last year. It makes you think that perhaps Gardner-Johnson is a bit of a handful, so it's hilarious to read that he basically admits that to Aaron Wilson of KPRC:
The 27-year-old explained his reasoning to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 recently, revealing that he felt his attitude may have been a bit much to handle for his new Texans teammates.
“I’ve really been like to myself,” Gardner-Johnson said. “The week I was there, it was very, very closer than places I’ve been before. Because this is a brand-new organization, trying to be the first team to put a bull on the ring. I had to step back. I’m too much sometimes."
So Gardner-Johnson missed OTAs because he's basically a little extra. I like the self awareness, honestly! I can't wait to watch this guy operate.
2. Which rookies continue to show out?
In this space last week, we discussed the importance of each of the rookies in this draft class, power ranked. DeMeco Ryans has been effusive in his praise of both rookie wide receivers out of Iowa State, second round pick Jayden Higgins and third round pick Jaylin Noel. I'm looking forward to getting two more sessions of watching each one work against one of the best veteran secondaries in the league. Can Woody Marks take advantage of his reps, especially if Mixon and Pierce are dealing with injury issues? Luke Lachey, a seventh round pick at tight end out of Iowa, is a wild card. The tight end room may have a spot available, depending on how the 53-man roster shakes out at other positions.
1. Will C.J. Stroud throw a football?
Stroud's shoulder and Yordan Alvarez's right hand, those are the two most scrutinized body parts on the Houston sports landscape right now. Alvarez's hand is a mystery wrapped in a riddle. We'll see when he plays again. Similarly, we haven't really gotten anything from the Texans that indicates when Stroud will throw a ball again. All we've gotten from the team is DeMeco Ryans informing us of "general soreness" with Stroud. Not even a body part! For what it's worth, Wilson has reported Stroud having tightness in his shoulder and pectoral area, and made it clear that Stroud has NOT had surgery on his shoulder. This is the main event of minicamp — what will Stroud be doing?
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