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The Houston Texans are slated to begin their 2023 Training Camp on July 26, and former defensive end J.J. Watt has a glowing assessment of the franchise’s eventful offseason. Watt, who helped anchor the Texans’ defense from 2011 to 2020, weighed in on the team’s moves in a recent video posted on Twitter.
“I think that this offseason has been as good as they can do for getting that thing back on track,” he said in the video.
The Texans are in the middle of a rebuilding process following a decade in which they won the American Football Conference (AFC) South Division championship several times. They are hoping that former defensive stalwart and first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans will accomplish what his two previous predecessors—David Culley and Lovie Smith—did not, which is to plant the seeds of a winning culture.
“You got to give him a long leash to give him the ability to build his process, to build his program, [and] to get the guys he wants,” Watt said in the video.
The 34-year-old Watt, who ended his decade-long National Football League (NFL) career with the Arizona Cardinals last year, lauded the Texans for making what he said was “a huge splash in the draft” over the spring. The three-time NFL Associated Press (AP) Defensive Player of the Year Award recipient and Walter Payton Man of the Year honoree said that the selections of quarterback C.J. Stroud with the second overall pick in the draft and linebacker Will Anderson with the third indicate “we are giving the assets to our new head coach, we are turning this thing around, and we are putting this thing on a path forward.”
There will be eight training camp practices that fans can attend free of charge, the Texans said in a recent news release. They will be held on July 28, July 30, Aug. 4, Aug. 5, Aug. 8, Aug. 13, Aug. 16 and Aug. 17. Houston will meet the New England Patriots in the first game of its preseason on Aug. 10 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.