NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Power Players: Texans OC Nick Caley

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

Jourdan Rodrigue is joined by Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley to talk about how he collaborates with quarterback C.J. Stroud while establishing the Texans offensive identity. Nick also discusses his early lessons in coaching while with the Patriots and the transition to a position with the Rams. Plus, Nick explains the influence growing up in Canton, Ohio with the Pro Football Hall of Fame had on his life and what it's like practicing against the Texans defense every day. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The entire draft room groans, because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to another episode of NFL Daily's power players

where we talk to football people and learn from them and pull back the curtain on the sport we love just a little bit more. Today, I am so excited to be talking to Houston Texans offensive coordinator, Nick Cayley. Kaylee is a John Carroll graduate, part of that coaching in front office fraternity that now spreads all across the NFL.

After spending his first decade of coaching as a defensive coach in the collegiate ranks, Kaylee moved on to a dynasty when he joined Bill Belichick's New England Patriots as an offensive assistant coach in 2015. He quickly moved up there, becoming the tight ends and fullbacks coach until leaving for the Los Angeles Rams

tight ends coaching job in 2023. In L.A., where he also became the team's offensive pass game coordinator, Kaylee helped install the new version of Sean McVeigh's offense using some influential run-pass concepts he helped perfect in New England. And the Rams were off and running.

In 2024, Kaylee became the Texans' offensive coordinator, joining a team that now has big time Super Bowl aspirations, including on this show, and a clear path of evolution and intention ahead of them, especially on offense. I can't wait for you to hear Kaylee's energy and thoughts about the game and coaching and everything else. Let's get into it. Welcome to NFL Daily's Power Players, where we go inside the NFL with people who shape the sport. I am stoked today to be welcoming Houston Texans offensive coordinator.

Nick Cayley to the show. Nick, how are you? Thank you so much for being here today. Jordan, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. How are you doing? I'm good. I think I'm in a little bit of a cooler, you know, not not cooler like rad, but cooler as in temperature environment than you are right now. So I feel for you, man. There's no question about it. It's, it's pretty steamy, pretty hot here. Yeah, so I, I'm excited to talk to you today because I just, we've known each other for a while and I just, I love the way that you think about football. And I love the way that you think about the big picture and the little picture of football and how it's evolving forward and building puzzle pieces together and working with people especially. And I think that really

shines through and every stop you've been in. But I really want to go back a little bit further. I mean, if you can put yourself back in like very, very young Nick Cayley's shoes and tell me about what sparked for you for football. Like what are some of the reasons that it really became your purpose and your why? Sure. Yeah. I mean, well, The first thing is I think we're all a product of our environments. I was born in Canton, Ohio, really roughly three miles from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So, you know, in the 80s, late 80s, really 90s, the population is declined a little bit. But high school football at the time, I mean, it wouldn't be uncommon to see 15,000 to 20,000 people at a high school game on a Friday or Saturday night.

Longest ongoing high school rivalry in, you know, the country, Maslin McKinley. so that's been going on for well over 100 games, easily 100 games. So as a kid, I got an opportunity. Fortunately, my dad loved ball and would take me to high school games as an early kid, five, six, seven years old, got an opportunity to just be around, you know, those players, those coaches, those environments, and really caught fire. And then mixed that with the fact that the Pro Football Hall of Fame is there, that's the time of the year where you just see Canton Shine.

and it's a great place. It's part of the fabric of the culture. It embodies hard work. You know, it's just, it's a passion-filled game. And, you know, I would say most of the guys that I grew up with when we were kids, that's what we did. We played football on the streets. We went to the Hall of Fame Day parade.

I used to be on my dad's shoulders and take me down to the Hall of Fame and trium in ceremonies when they used to be on the front steps there of the Hall of Fame. So that's where I got the first taste. and it hit me and it really just continued to, you know, fuel that fire in me, you know, to this day. I think a lot of us are really shaped by like the see it be it quality, right? Like you see people coaching. You were up close to those high school games and yeah,

you're looking at the players at the time and you're thinking, I want to be just like them. And eventually your path shapes into understanding the game and, and like really feeling passionate and fueled by like all. that goes into it to help those players succeed. When did that sort of start to switch for you that like, you know, okay, these guys are in Canton and they're being enshrined as players, but there's, there's coaches here too. There are so many people behind maybe the, the, the headsets that help shape the sport just as well.

I want to be like them. Yeah. I mean, probably around the age of seven, eight, nine years of age, to be honest with you. I had my, you know, a lot of my family members went to Kent McKinley High School. Ironically, that's where Josh McDaniels played. I had an opportunity to work with Josh for seven years in New England. But his father is a Hall of Fame high school coach. And I just, I can still remember going to the Massell McKinley games.

You know, I had two cousins. There were multiple cousins that played at Camp McKinley. My mom's first cousins. One played in the National Football League, John Grimsley for 10 years, seven of which here in Houston, if I'm not mistaken. at least I think it was seven years, but played 10 years in the NFL. So I remember going to McKinley games. I could hear the crushed cinder on the sidelines with the cleats hitting.

You could smell the popcorn, you know, in the air. And those were times where you looked up. The high school coaches, they were so respected in my community. And then as a kid, when you're playing football for the first time, first time we could play tackle football. I was in the fifth grade. and you just had opportunities to go out there and get coached and you had people that poured belief into you.

And it was fun. Like you enjoyed it. It was, you know, they were intense. They were competitive. And, you know, it was just, it was, it was what I loved. I caught, you know, I caught fire. And then coupled with that, when I was nine years old, there was a NIA school at the time, Malone College.

It's still there. I believe Ashton Doolin graduated from there. But they were in NIAA school. And Joe Palomazano was their head coach. at nine years of age, I got to be a ball boy. And I got to see every interaction. It was at Fawcett Stadium. Now Benson Stadium there, we're at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Tom Benson Stadium.

Prior to that, it was Fawcett. And I got to sit there and have a ringside seat every single day. My dad would drop me off. I'd walk into the stadium. I'd sit there for the home games, and then he'd come pick me up and I'd go home. And you would have thought that was a Super Bowl. There may have been a thousand people in the stands, but it didn't matter. And so I got to see the impact that coaches had on players.

I got to see the camaraderie. I got to see the collaboration firsthand. And it was at the age of nine that I knew, you know, look, we all had dreams to one day, hopefully be an NFL player. I knew pretty, you know, I had 135 pounds in high school. I knew that probably wasn't going to be my calling card. But I did know that ultimately at some point I wanted to coach football. That was important to me. It's cool because, I mean, for me, that's English teachers, right?

Like you have people who pour belief into you. And obviously I'm on the, you know, the writing side for the most part. I'm podcasting right now. But then, and like you remember those people who made you feel like I can do this. And you want to be one of those people for people. I think that's football is such a powerful cycle. It can be, it can be a dangerous and negative cycle. Sure.

But it also, in terms of people perpetuating those types of qualities to others and then those people carrying them forward, that's one of the things that I love, the most about the sport. And then the perpetuation of ideas comes in that too. And then like you hit the real stuff as you did. I know early in your career where you're like, this is hard. This is a grind. I am in the you know what right now. And I'm wondering what those moments were like too, like keeping that like real passion for it, even though you are in some grueling environments, especially, you know, as you leave your 20s, you're in your 30s in New England. You're in some real, real trenches with those guys.

Yeah. It was a laboratory for learning. I mean, for sure. And some days you're drinking out of a fire hose. I'll never forget. So I was on the defensive side of the ball as a graduate assistant all the way through becoming a full-time coach, a position coach at the college level prior to going to the Patriots, prior to getting an opportunity to get hired by coach Belichick and the Patriots.

And I'll never forget, I interview in 20, it was spring of 2015, I was out recruiting. And I got a call to see, you know, if I would want to come up an interview for a possible quality control job. They called a coaching assistant at the time. And I said, absolutely. So long story short, I get an opportunity to go up there. I interview installing quarters coverage, defensive backcentric, going through really a carwash of an interview from 730, 745 a.m.

to roughly about 4.30 p.m. when my flight was scheduled to leave. They fly me back to St. Petersburg, Florida, because I was out with spring recruiting. And when I came back, they called the next day to offer me the job, and I flew up. It was a pretty quick turnaround. When I got there, one of the first stops I made, they brought me to Coach Belichick's office, and he said, you know, I'm going to put you about as far out of your comfort zone as possible, and we're going to put you with the offensive line. Dave de Goliamo was the offensive line coach in 2015 for us there in New England. He said it's going to be, it'll put you as far out of your comfort zone, but it's going to be the best thing that will happen to you professionally.

And he was right. I remember that first spring, I got hired really the weekend of rookie minicamp in 2015. So I was already, I wasn't there for phase one of the offseason program. And when we got going, I just remember actually Jerry Sheplinski, our quarterback coach here, I took his role. They moved me to offense. I took his role. He got elevated to assistant quarterbacks coach.

and a couple weeks in, he takes a four-inch binder and he sets it and drops it right on my desk. And he goes, here you go, man. I'm giving you one day this summer. We're all at answer any questions you have, but go figure it out. That's what everybody else had to do here. So you're really, I'm breaking down film. I'm trying to learn what our language is, what our vernacular is, how we call things. In addition to trying to find my way through the building and what our rhythm and routine is that first spring.

And I'll never forget, I'm sitting there going, man, I know we used to call this 20. 26 power from a defensive perspective. Like, why is this called Jab 28 power boss? Why is this called Jab 26 sub? Why is this called, you know, jab 28 power? We had all these different variations of power. And then, but, but it would take,

it took an inordinate amount of time to get to, to break down film that the first couple tries. I mean, really the first month in the summer that I got there because it's not about identifying what's actually on the, it's putting it into their language. And so, felt like you were drinking out of a fire hose every day. And then, you know, the only thing I'd say is you just keep drinking. You keep swallowing the water and you keep going. And, and then you had

great people there to lean on. Josh McDaniels, Dante Scarnacia, the list, Brian Dable, there were just so many good people. I haven't fears. I mean, I'm going to leave people out because there's so many of them. But it was a lot at first. And all you can do is really roll up your sleeves and go to work and that's what I tried to do every single day. And, you know, and there was a lot of growth in those moments. A lot of hard work, a lot of tough time, but it was a lot of growth. I love that. And it's interesting to me because when you talk about, I mean, it's such a vivid memory for you. It's almost like when you are talking about this, I can hear you setting the binder on the table in front of you and flipping it open and being like,

oh my God. And so I like to think that when we have such transformational experiences like that, early in our careers. The really good coaches, the really good communicators, you know, take that forward and remember that always when you're maybe uploading something to your new players or your young players. We're going to talk about the present and the future later on in this conversation, but I do want to know, is that something you still think, okay, I remember what this was like and now this is how I'm going to try to help be and be really empathetic to people who are maybe learning this language and this installation for the first time? 100%

I think you have a great appreciation for that and you have a great appreciation for the process and I think the thing that was always stated to me and I've stated it

to numerous people that Cole Popovich came after me he's our offensive line coach Carmen Brissillo the offensive line coach for the Tennessee Titans one of my best friends in life he came after Cole

so we had a run of guys there and what we always tried to do was help each other out along the way and you know, you never lose perspective of that. And as hard as it is, it gives you a foundation where there was no shortcuts. You had to earn everything there. You had to be a forward thinker about things and solve problems and try to figure it out. And that was by design to see if you were willing to do the work and if you were able to figure out, you know, the solutions.

and as hard as it felt on the front end, it made you better every step of the way. And I wouldn't change anything. And, you know, I will never ask anybody to do anything that wasn't asked of me because there's a lot of gold and there's a lot of value and there's, there's, you know, a lot of growth that comes from those experiences for sure. Yeah, you touched on something I'm super curious about because it's all, if you look back on your life, Nick Cayley, this is your life, you know, like,

and you think about all of these moments that kind of, of we're all leading to where you are now. And as an offensive coordinator, you have to be so good at walking that line between the macro and the micro, right? And all of the little, little tiny details and all the little communications while continuing to keep that focus

and also sort of supplement and really be that focus for other people if maybe they're very in the weeds in certain roles and things like that. So how did those experiences and how did you personally maybe develop that skill set over time. I am sure it is still something you are always working on. Yeah, I would say, yeah, definitely. You know, I think the biggest thing is I think everything just starts with

in terms of relating to the people that you work with and interact with. I think it's about really understanding who you're working with and understanding the value of having people around you and supporting people. And as a coordinator, like, you know, I can't do this job. alone. And I value everybody that we have on our staff. Everybody has an important role. And you make that role, you know, you make of it, whatever you want to make of it, you know. And I truly believe that. The more you can do, the more things expand for you in terms of being able to take on responsibility. And all of the guys we have here on our staff, I have so much appreciation and respect for.

And it's just no differently than as a position coach, you know, my job as a position coach was to support the offensive coordinator, the head coach in any way that I possibly could to help us be at our best. And I just try to keep that into perspective, try to lead with humility and hunger and really, you know, I learn a lot from our coaches. We pour into each other. And it's a, you know, I value that. I value collaboration, you know, when we're sitting there trying to solve problems. And I don't ever want people to feel like they, they are, apprehensive to ask questions, you know, and speak in me. Like, I want a psychological safety that permeates to our staff because I think that,

you know, that's how you solve problems. That's a, you know, not one person has all the answers. And you can conquer a lot more with the team. And, you know, we tell our players that it's the same thing with coaches. And so I think being rooted in that, having a level of humility and just trying to take a step back collectively as a staff and doing everything we can to. to help one another so that we can help our players and we can help this team and organization. Man, I'm going to write that down.

Psychological safety is, you know, I love, you know me. I like words, right? So I really, that's a, that seems to me like one of your core values, the way that you present it like that and maybe a teaching mantra or a philosophical mantra that you try to live by any others that may be developed for you over time, things that you live by with communication, things that you learned over time in your career that you, really, really try to stay steadfast in? Yeah, I mean, a couple things. You know, I think one thing is the three things that I, that were told to me, you know, a while back were, you know, if you can do

these things, if you can work hard, you can treat people right and you can tell the truth and be transparent in your messaging, you know, it'll go a long way. So everything that I try to do, clearly far from perfect. Made plenty of mistakes in my life. But I try to do things the right way and just give everything your best. And, you know, Sean used to say it all the time in L.A. And he's awesome for every reason.

But no one likes surprises. So trying to be out in front of things. Being transparent from a communication standpoint, you know, from just the intent of what you're trying to get accomplished, just be authentic and genuine and be yourself and treat people the right way and pour everything you have into it. And it's amazing what you can accomplish when you get, when you do that and then collectively, when you have a staff do that. And same thing with our players. So I believe that. I live by that. I believe in that. And that's important to me. And, you know, and then just

continue to just try to help everybody be at their best. And, and, I think those, those, you know, I would say, uh, those three things really working hard, treating people right and telling the truth,

they, they take you a long way. Yeah, I'd agree with that 100%. You mentioned Sean McVeigh. I met you when you first came to Los Angeles. Um, what was the moment for you where you said,

Toto, we are not in New England anymore? Uh, right, right when I got there. I mean, you know, I'll go back when I first,

talk to Sean the first time, there was just this unmatched energy, as everybody knows, but like you could sense this passion, this fire, this relatability, high emotional intelligence, elite emotional intelligence.

No question, he's an elite football mind. But you could sense it, even on the phone, the first conversation I ever had with them, it was just different. And then once I went there and I walked through the door over in Calhulu, and you remember.

The door in quotations. Yeah, but on the wall, it said joy in the journey. And that's all I really had to see because from a personality standpoint, a vibe standpoint, it really felt like home from the time that I got there. And it was an unbelievable, he runs the energy in that building, the way that we go about our day, the way you move throughout the building, it's high-level football,

it's great people that are all motivated as coaches and players. And you saw just an incredible synergy between coaches and coaches, players and players, coach-to-player relationship, front office, you know, Kevin, less, Tony, obviously, integrating with Sean. And you saw people just work, work their asses off to support one another, all with the same common goal and no egos. And you knew pretty, right away you knew. And, and those, it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. I think that those Belichick staffs that you were on were

obviously so, I mean, talk about 300, 400, 500, 600 level coaching and coursework in how to do the job, do your job, essentially. And, but also, did you ever think that something could be both, that it could feel both like you were working maybe harder than you ever worked in your life, but also, um, you were joyful while doing it. I'm not saying you weren't when you were in New England. I know that was a bond that will always be shared. those staffs and those coaches. Sure. But just the,

I always felt, I moved out, I moved out to L.A. to cover the Rams and in 2020 and I just felt like, my brain just kept opening up and just kept, just kept going almost. Like there was the space, this space in football

that I had not even ever considered. And it was just like feeling like you're opening these doors everywhere you go and like thinking about things differently when you get there. I'm wondering if it was similar for you. Yeah, I would say what I realized is, you know, when I was younger, even going back to my college experience, right? I've had a fantastic opportunity to work for some unbelievable people every step of the way.

I really have. And I'm indebted and grateful for all those experiences. When I went to Los Angeles, I was a little bit older, we had a third daughter on the way. she hadn't arrived yet, Quinn. She's definitely a lot, an LA girl, three years old, just turned three, not too long ago. But what I realized was, what I realized was balance is good. Balance is healthy.

And I don't know that I had a whole lot of balance, and that's not derived at New England. We caught fire, you catch fire in a bottle, and you put the blinders on, and you go. And there was a lot of growth. But I felt when I really reflect and when I was in the moment, they're being present, totally present when I was in L.A. with Sean. And I try to carry it over today every step of the way that when I was able to recharge

and Sean does a phenomenal job just like DeMico does here from a schedule standpoint, especially in the off season, of giving you time to take your daughters to school, you know, having smiles on your face in the workplace, enjoying keeping it light, but also continuing to be urgent in terms of the work we needed to get done because we worked hard in L.A. We worked really hard in L.A. But there was a balance and there was laughter and there was joy and then the time you got to stay, you know, away and get away and go home, it made you help above the neck for me. I was held. I was at my best because I was completely, my tank was full every single day.

And, you know, I believe that. I'm convicted in that, that's, that's, that's part of it. And there's a lot of stresses in our life. This is it a hard job. Players, I mean, players, physically, for sure, and every, all the stress that they have, but for coaches too. And, you know, it's, it's when you can be joyful, when you can be in those moments where you're, you know,

you enjoy driving in down the 101 in the morning. You know, and the sun hasn't come up and you're excited to go to work. I mean, that's, that's, that's what you want. And that's, that's what it was there. It's what it was. Yeah, clearly your drive down the 101 was before everybody else woke up for the day. Otherwise, you'd be sitting in grid, in gridlock. That's true.

You hit it a little bit on, you hit it a little bit on Fridays after practice. Yeah, you would hate, you'd hate your life and everyone around you at that point. Yeah. So it's cool because we love the Houston Texans on this show. We talk about them all the time. They are big time Super Bowl favorites for us. I'm not trying to do the thing where you talk to the pitcher who's throwing heat about aspirations or goals or whatever.

So we're not going to do that. But we love this team on this show. And what I have always posited, especially in this sort of this new era, D'Amico coming over, is that this is a team that's trying to do that, that's trying to walk that line between this really, really modern and progressive workplace style of thinking, of collaboration, of communication, of building the coaching team and the front office team

just as intentionally as you would build the team on the field and doing so at a high level there too. But then also bringing still those old school, punch you in the mouth, I'm going to outwork you, like kind of qualities, as well, it's possible to do. And that's my, my theory about Houston. And I think where you come in on this is living in both of those worlds and sort of maybe

walking that line the way you have in your career. And it also means you've been around, you're carrying in the experience of the people you work with, including the quarterbacks. And when I think about C.J. Stroud, I think about his potential, which, oh, my gosh, we are so high on here. It's just, he feels like he's that type of quarterback, that high, cerebral. role, but also will gut through and like get stuff done too. What, I mean, you've been around some really, really great quarterbacks, veterans mostly

in your career. And I'm curious, like meeting him, getting into his, you know, into his mind, collaborating with him, being on this development track is he's still so young. What's that been like for you? What have you sort of called back to or maybe carried forward? It's been great. I mean, it's been a lot of fun. I would say the biggest thing too, I mean, over the course of the last year, the more time on task we've had to get to be, you know, around each other and continue to work, you know, with each other.

It starts with just the relationship piece of it. And him and I have a great relationship. And there's really no egos. We both want to win. We both want to help each other be at our best. And I think the emphasis point for both of us is, the more we can talk to each other and talk about the pros. and the cons and why I like something and what his level of comfort is with certain things, you know, the better off we get to understand each other.

And everything that we want to do here is put our players in the best position to have success. And with CJ allowing him to be, you know, customize our game plans and be able to really work to allow him to play to his strengths. And he's done such a fantastic job. He's had a great offseason. He loves football. He sees the game really well. it's important to him.

And so we have great dialogue. And, you know, he'll have ideas and I'll have ideas and we'll talk and he'll ask me, hey, what do you think about this play, Kales? And we'll go back and forth. And, you know, in the spring we tried, for example, we tried, you know, to really get in a bunch of things that, you know, maybe were different that complimented our players that he liked or that, you know, we had collaborated on to see, to go out there and do it and put our guys in position. And, you know, especially ones that he might be convicted in.

here and there. So, you know, he's been awesome to work with. And we have a lot of fun. We enjoy it. It's, he's, he's so steady. He's like this every single day. He's, I'm really proud of him. He's put in so much work. And we're just going to keep going. We're just going to keep going day by day here. One of the things I was just talking, I was talking to Jordan Love recently and he was talking about how part of the development process, especially for a younger guy who's in this sort of, you know, face of the franchise position at such a young age. And Jordan's journey obviously is slightly different in that regard being behind the guy. He was behind for a minute there.

But, you know, learning how to speak up and really voice what you like, but also understand where maybe it's not, right? Like that balance and trying things and it's okay to fail at certain things you try. And, you know, the story that Kyle Shanhan always tells is them letting RG3 run the play he wanted to learn and install it from the ground up and like letting him run it in one of their closed like OTA sessions and the play didn't work right and it's like no it didn't work but he felt like he had so much ownership over the process and I think that's that comes with like growing up as a quarterback right 100% I'm curious your thoughts on this part of it like

so much that happens behind the scenes that is have to be okay with trying stuff and failing first of all and and and you using your voice and really understanding where your voice is and what you truly are and who you truly are. Yeah, I think that's a great point what you're talking about. And I think you just look back, we have, you know, a core offensive identity, right? We have things that we systematically do that fit our players. When I got here as the offensive coordinator, certainly philosophically brought with me a philosophy that I wanted to instill here. core concepts in the run and the past game,

a way that we're going to deploy our protection systems, et cetera. But what we also did was there was some same as between the previous system and what we were doing in L.A. and some things that I had background with in New England, of course. But we adopted some things here that may have been really, really great fits for these guys. And as coaches, we adapted to those. And we evolved and we tied those in.

And we tried to do the best we could with that. And then over the course of the year, you find out a lot about certain guys that maybe maybe a young guy or a new acquisition that you had in training camp, you really just didn't maybe have a whole lot of time to get to move a guy around or put them in as many situations as maybe you had hoped. So then throughout the year, things come up and you're like, you know what, did that pretty damn well. Like, it's pretty good at it. Or, hey, let's shift this way and let's, let's, you know, have a variation of this scheme that we can tailor to this player or these players. And then you do a deep dive in the offseason. And

It's the same thing. Then you get, you know, talking with CJ and being able to look at the things, hey, we did these things really, really well. Okay. How do we complement these? How do we protect these? How do we add to them? How do we make these even better? And then you look at the things that, okay, like, this probably didn't go the way we wanted to. And for X, Y, and Z reason, what's the reason why, right? Is it salvageable? Do we, does it fit what we're trying to do? Yes or no. If it is, then we can make it better. We're going to make it better. If not, then we, you know, it's like go for. fishing or cut bait. You move on with it. And then you try to incorporate some other things. So what I love about the off season is, like we had just kind of talked about, is you get an opportunity to go

through there and just experiment with some things that have ideas, okay, that the quarterback might have ideas on. Or I have some things that, hey, I want to try some of these things, okay? We never really got to them in year one, but here we go. I think we're ready for them. And we have those conversations. And there's no, this is the best, that's the best time of the year to experiment with those things. And that's, that's the goal in that. And then when he, he brings things to me as, you know, there may be times to your point, like, you know, well, does it fit a protection scheme? Can we, can we run this concept with this protection system versus the front we're about to face? I don't know. Like, it's, you know, it's an empty protection. I don't know if we can,

if we can hold on that long. Or, yeah, we can. Let's do it, you know, and there's a lot of other factors. that go into it. Situations, you know, personnel, there's other things. But the great thing about it, Jordan, is when, you know, for example, C.J. will bring me a player. We'll have great dialogue during the spring. And he's convicted in it. You give an opportunity to go out there and we'll teach it.

And we'll go through it and we'll poke holes in at each other with each other. And then he has ownership in it. And he's invested in it. And my whole thing is, hey, we bring this thing to life and it. fits what we do and he's comfortable with it and it works and we're doing well with it. I'm going to call it. It's a good play then. The quarterback and the quarterback's comfortable and we show that we can do it on the field in a successful manner. Well, then let's call it. Maybe I should call it more, you know, and so there's no ego. Does it fit? Is there a level of comfort with the

quarterback? That's important to me. It's very important to me. And, you know, are we making progress there? And that's why I love the offseason program in the early part of training camp. There's an element at in training camp as well too. That's, it touches on something that I think is so important that like gets said a lot. And maybe people who are never in it or hadn't been in it, like maybe don't quite know what it means. And it's evolving something forward, evolving a system forward. Um, you figuring out, honestly, you're, you're in these two very distinct systems for

for such a long time in so many impactful ways and figuring out what that looks like with the guys you have and what that looks like in this version of who you are as a play designer, as a coach, as a play caller, as a guy who's working with the quarterbacks and the running backs and the line and over everything, but also over all the tiny things too. And I'm curious, you know, you've touched on a lot of the qualities that that takes, that work in the offseason, the trust to do that with each other. But when we talk about like evolving this offense forward, what does that mean to you? What does that actually mean versus, you know, us on the outside,

we can write it all we want, right? But what is it actually happening in that process? I think the evolution for our offense, I mean, from just a big picture, a starting point, let's say, is just continuing to refine and be better operationally and everything that we're doing. Let's start with the basics, okay? Don't ever get bored with the basics. So continuing from the ground up, whether it's the way we break the, the way we call the play

to the way we break the huddle, to our feet getting set with urgency, to how we move and shift in motion, to how we communicate crisp, clean with, you know, volume reflects confidence. We're making our declaration. We're echoing any calls maybe in the run game or from a protection standpoint. We're, you know, signaling when that's applicable from the quarterback to the skill players. And being able to be sharp on those things and proactive with those things and taking great pride in those things. That's the first thing.

The second thing I would say is, you know, our core, you know, our core scheme from a run game standpoint, a past game standpoint, including the protections, you know, what, it's always built around the players. Like I'm not a, hey, we have a core identity and a philosophy, but as players change and you lose players or you acquire new players or, you know, you have certain guys with certain skill sets, you have to be able to adapt as a coach to put them in position to be successful. And what we try to do here is allow those guys to play to their strengths. And one of the things that we did all offseason, we moved our guys around a considerable amount. Let's not put a guy in a box. Let's see what they're capable of doing

in other situations, whether it's a receiver, getting more inside flex and opening up his tree or going inside to outside, whether it's moving some of the tight ends in positions in multiple groupings that they really haven't had an opportunity to have a ton of reps in. You know, it's experimenting with compliments at making sure we protect all of our core plays. Okay, so that things can look as consistent and similar as possible on the initial stem in the past game or from a formation standpoint. So we protect formations. We protect concepts, et cetera.

And always trying to be able to ask ourselves, how can we make the things that we have been doing better and having no ego about that? And watching the tape and taking notes and poking holes in. things and just continuing to have dialogue as a staff and pouring it into our players. And then we, you know, sharing that with, with the players when they obviously come in the offseason and just continuing to talk and listening to the players. You know, there's certain things I've learned, I've learned a lot in my career from being blessed by being around some exceptional football players.

You know, obviously the coaching piece of it, but when you talk about the players, those I didn't play in the national football league. When the bullets are flying and the heart rates up and it's one-on-one battles at the highest level and everything's on the line and there's two minutes in the game and they got to make split-second decisions. Is there a clarity of thought in their mind? Are they playing fast? Do they know what to do? Are they confident what they do?

So you can allow them to cut it loose. And their perspective is so critical. I value that. We certainly as coaches, my job is to make a car. call on what we're going to ultimately do. That's my job. I take a lot of pride in that. But I value the input as you go because a lot of those guys that are sitting there,

they may see it a different way or they may be struggling with something or they may interpret something a little different. So having those conversations are healthy, whether it was, you know, coaching James Devlin, my fullback in New England, who's one of the, you know, most intelligent, hardworking human beings, you know, a pro bowl fullback for us. to Grunkowski, who never came off the field, who was in every spot, to Hunter, Henry, and John Hussmith, you know, and then you, you know, to Tyler Higby in L.A.

and Davis Allen and Hunter Long and those guys, there's so much great insight that those guys have, Puka, Cooper, Edelman, Amindoll, you can learn from so many people about their perspective and try to help them navigate some things. and it's a partnership. It really is. And when it's a shared vision

and there's a level of accountability and a commitment to that process, that's where the best teams I've been a part of, you see coaching players, coaching staff players, they work together. And that's, I believe, when it's at its best, when everybody's pulling in the same direction and you're all on the same page.

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You know the feeling. You make a pick in your fantasy draft and the entire room groans, because they wanted that player. Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyason, host of the Late Round Fantasy Football Podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes

tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest. And your dominance doesn't stop with the draft. All season long, we have our 15 transactions, 10 trends, sleepers, and the mailback, data-driven, quick-hitting episodes to help bring home that league trophy. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I think I'm a little jealous, honestly, and you're kind of in the catbird seat because you also get to coach against one of the games best in Damiko and Matt Burke and Dinovaso on that side of the ball. and you are, you're competing against them in these spring and summer practices, which are also functionally, you know, installing and doing all those things. But you, you guys get to share those perspectives and working with D'Amico, but I know you, you talk to the defensive players a lot, Aziz al-Shayr and yourself, I know, have a really special relationship.

And, and to, um, to pick their brains, too, to have, I mean, it's, it's like one of the best defenses we've ever seen. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm only 35. so I guess I can't really say that. But it's an incredible, incredible defense, one of the best we've seen recently, for sure. And the people on it, the players on it, are so authentically themselves.

And it strikes me that they are very open in speaking what they think and what's working and what's not working. So I'm curious, you mentioned that collaboration and picking people's brains and getting things in an eagoless way. What does that like with this defense that I think,

only thing I wouldn't be jealous of is going against them in practice. But what does that like for you? It's awesome. You know, we have great coaches that are a joy to be around that are really, really good at what they do. And we have great, great players, you know, obviously on that side of the ball with elite football character. And what you see is the thing that's so impressive is, you know, there's a lot of talent in this league, right? There's a lot of teams that play really, really hard and have success. The guys on our defense, they're all connected.

They play relentlessly for 60 plus minutes until the final whistle. And they do it with a spirit and an energy that is infectious. And you can just close your eyes at practice and you can hear the communication. You can hear the hitting. You can hear them swarm into the football. And that's such a testament to that's the defensive staff, the coaches, the players. They're just, they're all in it together. And it's awesome.

And it's a joy talking to Jalen Petrie's and Aziz and Will and those guys. I mean, all those guys. I mean, they're fun to be around. And they make us better every time. I mean, we're buckling up every single day. I mean, it's every day is so competitive. And D'Amico does such a great job with that. But it's awesome.

it's fun and you know and you know to piggyback too like the guys talked about players like you got guys like dalton shultz here who's a highly intelligent player and cj and like there's great David montgomery there's great collaboration and you just see both sides of the bowl it's it's really a connected team and and and you know we'll get one-on-ones or we'll have a competitive team period and you'll see you know the dbs and the receivers talking and and you know uh zee's talking to the backs about a route that they just ran in a in a a seven on seven period or whatnot. And we're all trying to grow. And, you know, De Beke always talks about like iron sharpening iron.

Like that's what it is every single day. I mean, every single day, that's what we're trying to do. And in our defense, they bring it. They bring it. Yeah, you know, I was really excited to hear. I saw some, you know, chatter about this version of the offensive line you guys have. And some of the guys really trying to take it to the, really trying to take it to that. That defensive line is formidable.

Right? Really, really, really good. Really good. Yeah, it's an amazing problem to have, right? So I think if you're the offensive guy, at least. Nick, I wanted to ask you one more thing before we let you go. The front office, I mean, I think to me, I've been following this team build for years, right? And the way that this Nick Casario and his group, you know, Lifffer Blanco, Debeck,

all these guys have taken this team from being a real question mark. a few years ago into, I think, one of the most complete rosters in the NFL and certainly helpful as well when the quarterback is still on his rookie contract. And I think that for me, if I'm a coach there, I'm looking at this and really learning from that as well. What do you sort of look at when you take a very sky high view of what the Houston Texans are and how they are built? And how do you communicate with those guys in the front office? How do you guys as coaches work with them to communicate traits and skill sets and things that will fit the totality of what they're creating. Yeah, I mean, first of all, Nick and Domingo do an incredible job.

Nick, the scouting department in the front office, the one thing I would say is they're aligned. Okay, there's a complete alignment with those guys and with our team. And, you know, the players, you know, that Nick and his staff were looking for, You know, they're players that we want in this building as Houston Texans. And they have great football character and they play relentlessly, regardless of position. And we, you know, I would say like throughout the year, they're very detailed. They're very thorough. It's just, it's such an efficient process.

They're great at communicating throughout the year, whether that's, you know, right when the season ends. you know, when we're in the pre-draft or the free agent period of just being able to dive into, you know, who are the players out there that are possible people that we might want to onboard here and bring, bring in to be a Texan and being able to really have good discussions and really spend time watching the tape and what is their fit? You know, what is their fit here? What's their role going to be? How can they help us? And then being able to pour that, you know, bleed into the draft.

process, rather. It's the same thing. Very detailed, very systematic, very thorough, but really trying to, you know, leave no stone unturned. And there's such a level of detail, but also an efficiency in the process, not a point of detail where it slows you down and it's paralysis by analysis. It's really the opposite. They do so much work on the front end of it. And from a coaching staff standpoint, you really appreciate how hard they work because they allow us to basically make an evaluation, you know, be able to speak,

you know, our opinion and what our evaluation is on a player. And then ultimately, you know, they make decisions on those guys. And we, we've brought in really, really good people.

I haven't been here, certainly. This is only going on my second year, but high character football people that play really, really hard, that are unselfish, that,

that want to help our team have success. And, you know, it's a roster full of them. Oh, man. That's great to hear. And I mean, I just to speak, I mean, I only was there covering you guys for a brief moment there in the post, right before the post season. And that locker room, I mean, it was a weird game, but that locker room was so, was so connected still.

And so, like, the vibes were very good. I don't, I don't know what I expected going in there, but it was like everybody was with each other. It wasn't offense or defense. Everybody was around each other still. And it was a road game for you guys. But it still was like not, nobody was rushing each other. know it was like very, I don't know, it was very, it felt very familial to me. And that to me seems like whenever I feel that around a team, I think there's some real speciality, some real potential there. So thank you for sharing a little bit more about that. You know, I kind of warned you about this. I can't, I cannot let you leave this set or this like virtual set without giving me a couple of music wrecks or band wrecks. Eric, our producer.

And I have a very similar taste in music as well. You know, we're kind of the warp tour kids here at NFL Daily. So I'm curious, anything good you want to recommend to the listeners, anything you're listening to. I know you're a big music guy. I love music. Yep. I mean, you know, I would say, you know I love Dave Matthews. I could listen to Dave Matthews about from sunup to sundown.

Dave Matthews band just went to the Woodlands. I pranked you on that pretty good one time with Kevin Demoff too. You did. You did. You got me really good. I got Jerry Sheplinski, our quarterback coach, to, you know, come out to the Dave Matthews. He was like, ah, Dave Matthews. You know what?

I'm like, Jerry, just, we have, we're off tomorrow, man. Like, what are you going to do? What are you going to sit on your couch? We can go to Dave Matthews, man, actually with Berg. Oh, cool. He came in town. And so we ended up going and I go afterwards. I saw him, I looked over.

I said, I saw him singing to himself because Dave blends and we'll do all the interludes where he brings it, you know, different, different, uh, songs and stuff and intertwines him. I look over and he's singing. And afterwards I say, hey man, how was he? He goes, it wasn't bad. I said, yeah, I told you. He's got to be open-minded. But I would say,

you know, Dave Matthews, the ones I've been listening to recently, O-A-R, I'm always going to rock out with O-A-R, the early 2000s of Iowa State jam band. I mean, they're always good to listen to. Dispatch. I can crank dispatch. from just about any time.

Eric's smiling really big behind the glass right now. And the revivalist. Oh, revivalist. Nice pull. Yeah. It gets me into a little bit more of a calming mood sometimes. Yeah. And I listen to,

I listen to everything. Awesome. And my two little ones are going to be, Jordan, they're going to be out probably listening to them to. It'll be out in L.A., you know, probably hitting some concerts

in about another 15, 16 years there. Oh, yeah. They love music. Tell them to, I'll give them the good spots. I'll get them the good, the good, the good, uh,

venues to get to and kind of go under the radar a little bit. So I got I got him I got him covered here, Nick. Don't worry about that. I appreciate it. Hey, I'm so glad that you joined us today, Nick. This is Nick Kaylee for those listening offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans. Coming up later this week on NFL Daily, we are back in your feeds. It's training camp. We've got practice reports. We've got news updates. We're continuing to go in granular detail to every single team in the league. Training Camp continues. Stay tuned in your feeds, and thanks for listening. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league.

I'm JJ Zachary Eisen, host of the award-winning late-round podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late-round fantasy football podcast. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.