DEMECO RYANS: Excited to be back. Like to start first off just extending my sincere condolences to the Jones family, miss Emily, Jacoby, Jr. Jacoby was a teammate of mine here for five years. When you talk about a guy who was, I mean, fun, spirited, right, loving, caring, right, great teammate, the dance machine, he was a fun guy to be around.
He lit up any room that he walked into just with his great spirit. He'll be truly missed. I was he was very sad denied to hear the news of him passing. Just truly feel sorry for the family and for all of his teammates, all the lives he touched.
I remember he always did a great job working in camps and with kids. Always did an excellent job of that. He'll be missed. Last time seeing him was our playoff game. We were with the Ravens and he was honored as a Ravens legend, so that was a proud moment for me to see him there honored, right, another organization, see him doing that with his son.
Very special moment. My prayers are with him and praying for comfort and strength for the family.
Q. This is year two for you and this program. Does it feel any different knowing what you all achieved in the past year? What is the message you all have achieved in year one going into this year?
DEMECO RYANS: As we open up our 2024 camp, everything starts new for us. It's about building a solid foundation. If you want to do anything great it starts with the foundation. You want to build anything great and grand it starts with the foundation.
That's what camp is about. So I'm truly excited about being able to get start today.
Day one as I told our guys. We have a lot of room for improvement. My expectations and what I expect to see from everyone, all of our guys, let's get a little bit better each day. If we get a little bit better each day we'll be exactly where we want to be.
That starts with guys, their mindset of showing up on purpose, with the right attitude, being a great teammate, guys being resilient no matter what we face. Whether it's weather, injuries, the tough days of camp, whatever we face, you got to be able to overcome it, sustain, and push through.
I just want all of our guys to show up with a competitive spirit. If everybody shows up that way we'll be just fine.
Q. From a leadership standpoint, what have you seen in CJ this off-season as he heads into year two?
DEMECO RYANS: He has done a really good job this off-season as a leader when it comes to working with other guys, knowing that he's not just working by himself, but finding the avenues to get a group together and work together. That's very important, especially when it comes to timing in the pass game for receivers and quarterbacks. They have to be in sync.
It shows that they see how important that was because guys are working together this summer.
Q. You feel like you did a great job of instilling the mindset and the mentality in some of your younger players to give back as far as with the rookies? A lot them got a chance to work in the off season with the rookies coming in. Not only that, but giving back to the community as well?
DEMECO RYANS: It's really important for us. The community is really important. That's why we bring the guys in we bring in. The first thing I look for, guys who are good people, right, good character guys. We can win with good guys and we are going to do it the right way with the right people, and it starts with the character of men we bring in.
That's first thing first. It's non-negotiable. Guys have to be great teammates, have to be great in the community, and care about others. That goes long way for all of us.
It's not about ourselves. As we go through life, it's about what can we do to lend a helping hand to someone else. How can we bless others. That's what life is all about.
Q. How was it to see Titus out?(indiscernible.)
DEMECO RYANS: It was good to see Titus back out today. Missed some time with the surgery, so good to see him back healthy and having an opportunity to compete. When it comes to Laremy, we have guys who will be on different schedules throughout camp, so there will be guys you won't see out.
But everybody is on track for the season opener. That's what this is all about, getting guys ready to go when we kickoff the season opener.
Q. Second year of this team. I know there are new players. Are there other things you can accomplish in this training camp that you weren't able to accomplish last year because you had to do so much installing and teaching?
DEMECO RYANS: This year it starts over truly for me. It's all about you re-teach. You start with the basics, the fundamentals of teaching, our principles and style of play. How we play, how we practice.
For me, you never lose sight of just because guys were here last year they understand it. So we have a ton of new guys on our team. Each team is different. So for me, we're still instilling those principles of how the Houston Texans play football and how can we rep our style.
So will a lot of teaching and we'll continue to teach until it shows up on game day.
Q. You talked a lot about rat poison, all that. Do you remember a point in your career when you were able to put that into practice? You talked about not eating the rat poison. Do you remember a point in your career where you were able to actually do that?
DEMECO RYANS: When we talk about expectations for the season and what that means, it all starts internally for each and every guy on the field. What do you expect for yourself. That's what I asked our guys yesterday. It's not about what people say on the outside. That doesn't change who you are.
It's about who you think you are, what do you think you can achieve and accomplish as a player. That's the only thing that matters to me. The expectations are always driven internally.
So if our guys think high of themselves, we'll go high. That's how I want guys thinking.
Q. What's the key for players in their second year, CJ in particular?
DEMECO RYANS: The biggest key in the second year is really it's your first off-season, first true off-season, so it all starts how you attack the off-season the right way. Guys can make some huge strides in their off-season preparation as second-year players.
Don't to have worry about the combine, prep. They can truly dedicate themselves to football. I think you'll see guys start picking up where they left off hopefully. But it's just a matter of those guys for the second year guys, they have so much more confidence because they know what to expect now. They know how practices are going to be. They know the meeting, the schedule. So they don't have to -- there is not any uncertainty for those guys.
They can truly dial in and lock in and focus on football and become better players, and you see a tremendous growth in year two. That's what we're looking for all of our year two guys, CJ, Will, Henry, all of our -- Tank, all of these guys we brought in. I'm excited to see them perform again.
Q. CJ obviously had a great rookie year. What are some things that you guys think that he could improve, take it to the next step?
DEMECO RYANS: When it comes with CJ, he's done a great job his rookie year. He got a lot of accolades for his rookie season. But the same for him, where can we see him grow in the second year, his leadership. First and foremost, continue to become the leader that we want him to be.
And it's just in his play. Doesn't change for CJ, for anyone else. Can we get a little bit better each day? There is no big grand thing for him. Just continue to get a little bit better. You see how much better he got from his first day of camp last year until our last game, how much better you saw the growth of him.
That's the same thing when we come into this season.
Q. What does that maybe look like when it comes to him?
DEMECO RYANS: For him, now in his second year, there is a comfort level, so you can be bit more vocal to the entire team and not just speaking to the offense. But the team has his ear and he can lean on that a little bit more and just -- CJ doesn't to have change anything. Just has to be himself.
That's what has made CJ a special player, him being himself. He has a great family, was raised the right way, does all things the right way.
Just continues to be himself and guys will follow him because of how he works, how he shows up with a great attitude. That's why guys follow him.
Q. What is the message you have for the rookies knowing they been through rookie mini camp and OTAs. This is the real thing. You in training camp.
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, for our rookies I tell them we're not waiting on you. It's time to go. We drafted everyone for a reason. Like you're here for a reason, so show up and let's see why you are here. It's no wait and see two years down the line.
Like what are you doing for us right now? We want our rookies to know and understand the urgency of them to contribute right now. It's not a later thing. It's a right now thing.
They understand that message.
Q. Did you happen to expand on (regarding mulligan) with the man upstairs? You in the bubble with the weather and ya'll able to get outside and practice.
DEMECO RYANS: Great weather today. I thought we were going to get a lot of rain, but any time we get weather like this in Houston we definitely appreciate it. It's so nice. I told the guys a nice cool day. Don't get used to it.
Q. Houston sports teams have often uplifted the region when there has been tragedies about weather. How has this affected anybody on the team as far as the storms recently? Any insights you'd like to provide after going through, let's say, Ike which was a challenge closer to the season?
DEMECO RYANS: My thoughts are with everyone who had issues with the storm. A lot of people were affected. A lot of our people in our organization were affected without power, you know, damage to their homes. Just because we're here doing this, we're all the same. We all experienced the storms here in Houston. We know how the hurricanes can pop up and hurt us at any time.
Just make sure we're prepared as best we can be. But our thoughts are definitely with all those who are suffering from the loss of power. Anyway we can help out, our organization did a great job trying to provide housing for those who were displaced.
Q. You have part of the roof missing. Do you want to give an update?
DEMECO RYANS: Roof won't be in there for a while, so hopefully we can still operate in there. But that's -- I think that's a minor thing as opposed to what is going on with others aren't the city. Our roof is a minor issue that we won't make a big deal at all.
Q. Working with Tank, having the conversation, what kind of value do you think Diggs brings outside of physical production on the field?
DEMECO RYANS: What Diggs brings to our team, he brings a guy who is a leader. He's done it a long time. Has experience. So he has a lot of insight to how to play the game. Coaches, we coach, coach it up, but players go play the game.
For Tank and Diggs to work together, Metchie, Eric, all the guys can learn a lot from a guy who has done it at a high level for a very long time. They can learn some more tricks of the trade that maybe coaches don't know that he can share with them.
Excited to see him, his leadership with the guys, helping them out. That's what we want from all our veterans. We want them teaching our younger guys, and it's really cool to see those guys working together.
Q. Tell us about the kids out today and why you invited them.
DEMECO RYANS: Yeah, kids are all out today with Fifth Ward Church of Christ, their summer enrichment program. It has been going on over the past 15, 20 years now, so it was important for me to have them come out today to just get out and see something different, see the guys out here in practice.
I know they been working hard on all their programs. They're at the gym. Good to see them get out here and just representing and what that means to me. I'm excited to have them out there. Special group and excited to have them out today.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports