Q. Before you get to talking about what's going on in OTAs, can you give us an update about what's about to happen next week?
FRANK ROSS: Yeah, thanks for asking. June 6th, next Friday night, Fourth Annual Coaches Cut event. Hair cuts for the homeless at the Covenant House in Montrose.
Very proud of what the event has grown into. Thank you for everybody that has donated.
I know that Cody and SNL Podcast, you guys had me on and raised a bunch of money. It's special. It's important for us to take care of our own in the Houston community, so thanks for asking about it. Very excited.
Yeah, hopefully see some of you guys there. It would help amplify the situation that's going on over there at the Covenant House. We will be there to raise some spirits and treat both the youth population there, male and female, to a day of hair cut, pampering and some feel-good.
We are excited to do that for our fourth annual, so thanks for asking. Hope you guys can be there. Cool.
Q. (No microphone.) What's the process like to figure out...
FRANK ROSS: Yeah, thankless job. As we all know here, John was integral part of the Houston, Texans. Forget the special teams unit. To me specifically he was integral part of my development. So as we move forward -- and that's the nature of the NFL. As you move forward it's always a one-year entity. The best players play. Doesn't matter what the position is. Could be from the quarterback down to the long snapper.
We all know it's a very important position, very specific skillset position. So for us, we need to be snap-to-hold-to-kick or snap-to-punt operation clean and then be able to do all the little nuances of the position, hold your own in protections, cover, making sure you're supporting your teammates, guards on the punt team, so on and so forth.
For us in the immediate it's about getting on the same page and rhythm with Tommy who's handling the ball from the snapper at high clip regularly. Excited to work with Austin Brinkman who we brought here from West Virginia as a rookie. Tucker Addington we signed to a futures deal. Both battling for the position, and we'll see how it shakes out.
Q. What about what you're seeing from Jalen?
FRANK ROSS: Speed. Speed. Yeah, definitely been a good rookie class. He can run. Excited for all those guys. You know, it's just the start of it. This is so, so early. Like the last two and a half, three weeks has probably been the most curve they've ever learned in their football careers.
It's been download overload, and we are now trying to refine them fundamentally into the things we're going to ask them to do. All the rookies have been exciting so far. See what we can add to our current group of veterans that are already here.
Q. (Regarding Tremon.)
FRANK ROSS: Tremon is my buddy. Yeah, I'm excited for Tremon. Great football player; knows what it takes to play the gritty style. Tremon is a good looking guy but he plays nose first and I love that about him. Very thankful that he's here, happy for him to get out in the uniform for us, and hopefully go make those impact plays from the perimeter speed positions that we need.
Q. (No microphone.)
FRANK ROSS: Yeah, so the question is just about where the kickoff currently is. Definitely I think a couple things were accomplished. From our chair and we can't control everything. The NFL has a lot to do with that.
But from a safety perspective, and I think they've talked about this openly, but the injuries from impacts down the core of the kick, kick return play resulted in zero injuries in the new scheme over the course of the season.
Yeah, there is still a hamstring or still a tackler and a ball carrier injuries, but I think from a safety perspective, that mission, it was pretty accomplished with the overhaul of the format of the play.
Now we got to find a way to get the results of the actual performance of the play up to speed. Now that the touchback has been ruled to the 35, the ball will be in play. The Texans were one of the more aggressive teams to put the ball in play on kickoff. I think everybody's numbers are going to probably triple and we are going to get a 60 to 70 plus percent return rate.
Get the ball at the 35 yard line, like one first down, another one, you're kicking a field goal. So I think you're going to see the ball in play, and there is more flexibility with the kickoff return alignment and not the kickoff team.
So now the kick, kick return will have some more creativity available to them in their design. For us, doesn't matter what the rules are. Doesn't mattered how the game a officiated. You play to those rules. For us, we're going to try to find an edge and create a field position offensively, be explosive in the return game, and create long fields and mitigate returns for our defense when we are covering.
Excited for the new changes. Hopefully it allows us to go play ball more so we're excited.
Q. The safety is going to change, but you want fine tune it. What does fine tune look like? What does that mean?
FRANK ROSS: I think like the easiest way to the naked eye, and everybody... (feed ended.)
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