The Houston Texans have elected not to hold their mandatory minicamp, first-year head coach David Culley announced during a Zoom press conference on Wednesday.
The decision came after Culley and team leaders felt the organization had great attendance, and accomplished their goals during the four-week voluntary organized team activities period — an objective both parties agreed upon a little over a month ago. Houston’s three-day mandatory minicamp was set for June 15-17.
“There are new players on this team, but a lot of us have been in the league for a long time,” running back Phillip Lindsay said. “I think we did a great job of coming together and we have a veteran-heavy team. People already knew what they needed to do. And we know what we need to do in order to have a successful season.”
After the decision to forgo mandatory minicamp, the Texans are the fourth team in the league to cancel — joining the Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.
“We felt like we needed to make sure for a least a good four weeks, we had as many players here as possible to learn our culture, system and new defense with all of the new players we have,” Culley said. “We got accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. And felt like getting them here was more important than having those two and a half days of minicamp.”
The cancellation of mandatory minicamp does not mean players will take the near month and a half off before the start of training camp in July. Second-year prospect Jonathan Greenard said he will “relax a bit,” but will continue to get his workouts in on the daily basis. Texans to begin training camp on July 27 at NRG Stadium.
Noticeable Texans players who did not attend voluntary OTAs in addition to Deshaun Watson: Tytus Howard, Laremy Tunsil, Whitney Mercilus, and Zach Cunningham.