Q. Practices feel natural out there?
C.J. STROUD: First of all, want to give all glory and praise to my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. It's been an amazing couple of weeks for me. Very grateful for the opportunity that I have.
First couple of days have been good OTAs. Trying to get better every day, push myself, and learn from the older guys, get all the feedback I can, be on the film, be here early, all the little things to push myself to be great.
Q. ...from Tom Brady and Travis Scott?
C.J. STROUD: Things on and off the field. It was amazing. Thank you to Michael Ruben for making that happen. It was just honestly a blessing to have two people who took out time of their day to come and give us wisdom, because there's two people who have done it at the top level in their industries.
So learn things on the field, off the field, how to conduct yourself, how it's supposed to look in the locker room, the weight room, off the field, business, everything that you can think of, we talked about. So it's was a blessing.
Q. What's it like working with Case and (indiscernible)?
C.J. STROUD: It's a blessing. It's being something that I definitely knew that I needed it. Just that guidance and confidence that they've had. They both played in the league as starters. So they've been very helpful, have been very appreciative and very supportive of everything.
We have constant communication on and off the field, so it's been really great.
Q. C.J., one of the highlights that we got to see was Tank. What's he shown early, and how is your relationship kind of developing with him?
C.J. STROUD: Yeah, it's been going great. We've been hanging out in the hotel, just going over scripts, getting the plays down together. It was great to be not only by myself, but a great rookie class. Not only just football players, but human beings.
Tank has done a great job, very vocal, wants to be better, wants to know what we like so he can run a route a certain way, wants to get right with the coaches.
He's just very, very in tune to what we want, and he wants to just be great. So it's amazing to be with him. He's very like minded.
Q. I'm sure you've heard from a lot of people and got a lot of tips in the time that you've been drafted. Are you able to share any of the best things that people have told you as you prepare for your NFL career?
C.J. STROUD: Yeah, the one thing that kind of sticks out for me is keep the main thing the main thing. If you take care of football, then everything will take care of itself. Right now trying to focus on ball and everything else. I'm trying to do my best to have people figure things out for me and trust people on my team and things like that.
For right now, it's really for me football. I'm here all day every day and trying to get better. That's probably the best advice I've gotten so far is just keep the main thing the main thing.
Q. You've worked to get to this point; your whole life you've wanted to be in the NFL. I know you went to rookie mini camp last week. What did it mean to you when you walked on the field for the first time in your Texans jersey and you're an NFL player?
C.J. STROUD: It's a dream come true. For me, it's just a stepping stool. Of course it's a dream come true, and of course I've been working for it my whole life, but I feel like I'm built for this.
I'm made not just to play football, but to use football to help inspire people and lead people to God. That's what I'm here to do. God gave me the talent in order to do such, and that's what I'm here to do.
It's just a steppingstone. I have a lot more goals and plans to accomplish what I want to accomplish on and off the field, and I'm excited to do that with this great organization.
Q. What's your relationship been like so far with DeMeco and then feeding off the energy he's bringing?
C.J. STROUD: He's a young coach who knows how it is to play in this league and play for the Texans. He knows a lot about the city of Houston, and he knows what comes with playing here.
He's just been great, very vocal. He's really funny too. So it's like cool to have a coach who's not all stuck up all the time or like super mad. He's been amazing, though. Very transparent. Communication has been great. He's going to be a great head coach.
Q. How have Bobby Slowik and Coach Jerrod Johnson been teaching this offense?
C.J. STROUD: They've been very methodical and want to get me to learn it step by step, just like how they would teach anybody else. I feel like I tried to do a lot of work on my own, so when I come back the next day, I have that put in the bank to be able to move on to the next install, whatever it is.
Bobby and Jerrod have done a great job. Coach Slow is a great young mind. He's an exciting playmaker. Excited to work with him and Jerrod. I've worked with him before. It's exciting to be back and see a similar face and get more in depth what he knows about the game and the knowledge he brings.
Q. What are the things that are helpful with that, and how do you see the offense (indiscernible) help with your understanding of it?
C.J. STROUD: It's coming. I mean, it's going to be a process. It doesn't happen overnight. Just trying to learn from the guys who have been in the offense before, like I know Case has been in the offense before. So just trying to learn from him a lot. Davis knows a lot about the game, so learn from him. Learn from some of the vets.
That's kind of just been my approach is learn it little by little.
Q. What has your interactions been like with Dameon Pierce so far? Can you feel his energy as far as on the field and off the field?
C.J. STROUD: Yeah, D.P. is amazing, man. D.P. is a dog, somebody who's not only going to have your back running the ball, but he's going to pass protect. More so than that, he's just a great person.
Just being around him, getting to know him every other day, he's hilarious. He's always very upbeat, very positive, and wants to work and wants to get better. I accept a lot of feedback from him. He likes feedback from me. We've just been enjoying working with each other, so it's been a blessing to have someone like D.P.
Q. You talked about the biggest difference -- has anything so far surprised you that's different being in the NFL?
C.J. STROUD: That's a great question. I don't know, man. For me, I think I'm a natural born competitor, so that's what I'm here to do. But at the same time, being a great teammate is more important.
That's what I've been on, just trying to embrace the relentless swarm that Coach Ryans wants us to be on. That's what I plan to do, be a great teammate, be vocal, be confident. I feel like I've done a decent job so far, but I've got to keep growing every day. It's not going to happen overnight. I'm going to have growing pains and things like that.
I think they're putting things around me, Davis, Case, and the quarterbacks to be successful and lead this team to win. I'm excited to be in that room to push each other, but at the same time, help each other, which is more important.
Q. (No microphone.)
C.J. STROUD: For me, I'm trying to get better. It's not about being with the ones, being with the twos, just getting better. That's what spring is for. Getting the timing down. Learning my receivers, learning Tank, learning how Nico runs his routes, just anybody I can learn from. That's what I've been on.
It's not about ones and twos, just getting better as a whole and getting ready for training camp. So that's been a blessing.
Q. You've been in this battle before where you've had to kind of learn the ropes. But when you were in Ohio State, what were some things that helped you learn that offense before?
C.J. STROUD: I mean, Dustin was very appreciative, very supportive of me when I first came into Ohio State. It's kind of a long time ago so I don't remember everything. I just remember him being a leader. He's more of a lead by example type of guy.
I think I'm a little more vocal, but everybody has different ways that they lead, and he was a great leader. Right now I'm just learning how to follow before I step into the leadership role that I want to become.
Yeah, that was a lot of time ago, but some of those principles and things that I learned about being a backup is definitely going to help me now, just being a servant to whoever's in the room, to the offense, to the organization, to the team, to Mr. And Mrs. McNair, to the community of Houston, just being a servant.
Q. You mentioned some of the veterans on this team. What's it been like developing a relationship with guys like Robert Woods and try to get on the same page as them? What are some of the things you learned from guys like that who have been on the team a long time?
C.J. STROUD: That's something I definitely feel like you need for me being so young. I think it's going to help with Davis and Case as well. Like I said before, right now it's not just about an individual person. It's about the whole squad, which I'm loving it, man. This team has been very accepting of me, very honest, and very transparent.
What I love about it, man, nothing has been given to me. I have to earn everything, which I love. It's been like that my whole career, so it's nothing new. Robert and people like Alex Bachman and Brevin Jordan, all these guys have been super vocal and super in depth of what they like, how they like things, not only on the field, but off. It's just amazing to be around great people and great football players as well.
Thank you all. God bless.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports