Houston Texans 2024 Training Camp Report, Practice No. 17

The Houston Texans wrapped up what had been their hottest week of practice outside, with the tamest of their 17 training camp sessions so far — an indoor walk through, prior to an off day which leads into Saturday’s first home game of the 2024 preseason, a noon kickoff against the New York Giants.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans has been using this week to, as best they can, simulate an actual regular season game week, hence the midday practice start times (which is the norm in the regular season), and the indoor walk through to fine tune things two days prior to kick off. The only thing providing any kind of heat at this practice was the two massive stadium-width holes in the NRG Stadium roof, courtesy of Hurricane Beryl.

So let’s start there, in summarizing a training camp practice that was very short on activities that will decide anyone’s spot on the roster:

Stadium stuff
As I mentioned above, unless you’ve been to one of the events at NRG Stadium since the hurricane in early July, you haven’t had a chance to see the damage inflicted by Hurricane Beryl. Here is a shot that I took from field level on Thursday at practice:

I’m case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the roof of NRG Stadium from the inside. The most affected area in game Saturday will be the lower bowl in the south end zone. About half those seats will be getting some sun. pic.twitter.com/uEZttNJrFS

— Sean Pendergast (@SeanTPendergast) August 15, 2024

We were actually in the stadium for the walk through on Thursday right around the time the Saturday game would kick off, around noon. It appears the one area of the stadium most affected by the sunlight, and thus possibly hotter than normal, is the lower bowl at the south end of the stadium. Roughy half the seats were in the sun at that time of day. Dress accordingly!

Trade rumors swirling
On Wednesday, the New England Patriots traded defensive end Matthew Judon to the Atlanta Falcons for a 3rd round pick in 2025. That, unto itself, was not a surprise. Judon has been looking for a new contract, and probably looking for a team that will win more than three games this season. What was a little surprising was that the Texans were reportedly inquiring about Judon themselves. The Texans’ best position group on defense is arguably the defensive end room, but if the rumors are true, then it shows just how much DeMeco Ryans wants to stockpile talent along the defensive line. If anything, it’s a good reminder that Ryans and GM Nick Caserio are NEVER done building their roster.

Walk through notes

* The other bit of news that people are trying to tie to trade smoke is Davis Mills’ absence from practice again on Thursday. Since returning from Ohio, Mills has taken hardly any snaps in practice, and has been in street clothes for at least two of those days. With the Vikings losing rookie QB J.J. McCarthy for the season to a knee injury, the Vikings are in the QB trade market, and Mills does make some sense for them. Ryans was coy after practice, providing no information on Mills’ situation. It bears watching.

* RB Joe Mixon was in uniform at the walk through, but not participating in any activities (unless you count laughing and chopping it up with teammates as an “activity”). Dameon Pierce was getting the reps with the first string in walk throughs, and I might expect that to be an indicator that the Texans hold Mixon out on Saturday, which is fine, because they need to see and evaluate Pierce more than they need to see Mixon at this point.

* The list of players working out off to the side remains the same as all week — CB Jeff Okudah (hip), WR Noah Brown (shoulder), TE Teagan Quitoriano (calf), RT Charlie Heck (plantar fasciitis), LB Christian Harris (calf), WR Ben Skowronek, DE Will Anderson Jr. (ankle), DE Denico Autry, DT Tim Settle (calf). I wouldn’t expect any of these players to suit up on Saturday.

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