Tag: Jerry Hughes

Texans DE Jerry Hughes lays out how DeMeco Ryans relates as a former player

Houston Texans defensive end Jerry Hughes lined out how coach DeMeco Ryans relates to the team as a former player.

Being a former player helps as an NFL coach, but it isn’t the secret sauce. Otherwise, the Green Bay Packers wouldn’t not have faded throughout the 1970-80s, a period where former Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr coached the team.

However, being a former player can be advantageous if utilized properly.

The Houston Texans have their first former player roaming the sidelines as coach in DeMeco Ryans. The former two-time Pro Bowl linebacker is the sixth full-time coach in team history, and seeks to pull the Texans out of the ditch as the club has endured double-digit losing seasons the past three years.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes shared with reporters June 13 after the first day of mandatory minicamp how Ryans is exactly able to relate to the current players despite not having played a down since 2015.

“It’s just amazing how he can command the room by saying something as simple as going over situational football, how all eyes are locked in on him,” Hughes said. “Especially with us, we have a young team, and that’s what we need, someone who can not only bring the energy, but just reinforce teaching the game of football, because you can’t learn enough of it.”

The key ingredient may be experiencing the NFL in any game day capacity since 2006. Furthermore Ryans has processed those experiences to better articulate what his players should mind as they get ready for the season.

“There’s so many different situations that will happen throughout the season, things that have happened in the past that he’s kind of going over, and it’s just making us smarter so we can go out there and play faster,” said Hughes.

The Texans lost six one-score games in 2023. If Houston improves at situational football, even on the defensive side of the ball, it should help turn the tables in close games.

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Texans’ Jerry Hughes plays big brother for all rookie DE

The Houston Texans’ Jerry Hughes has embraced the role of being the big brother for all of the rookie defensive ends in the DL room.

Jerry Hughes is one of the NFL’s most experienced defensive lineman, and on a team that is as inexperienced as the Houston Texans are heading into the 2023 season, expectations for his role as a mentor are at an all-time high.

A former 2010 first-round pick, it would seem only natural Hughes spent most of his time giving pointers to No. 3 overall pick Will Anderson. However, Hughes has a whole brotherhood that needs his direction.

“Yeah, I mean, [I mentor] all the young guys, honestly,” Hughes told reporters June 13 after mandatory minicamp.

Two of the other defensive ends in the room are fourth-rounder Dylan Horton — a former TCU product like Hughes — and undrafted Ali Gaye from LSU.

“All those guys, I try to be their big bro, whatever questions they have,” said Hughes. “I kind of seen it all in the NFL. Off the field, on the field, whatever they have, I try to be there for those guys. They’ve been here the entire off-season giving it their all, asking a lot of questions. That’s what we want. We need them to win games this year, so I’m excited.”

That excitement is sure to pay off if the Texans’ younger contributors can make sparks fly under his direction during the 2023 season. With a new coaching staff and revamped roster in place, Hughes may see his role on the field diminish over the course of Houston’s schedule.

The work Hughes is putting in now to acclimate the first and second-year talent on the team’s roster will make him an indispensable part of the Texans’ defense.

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Texans DE Jerry Hughes says S Jalen Pitre is ‘a step ahead of everyone’

Houston Texans defensive end Jerry Hughes says that safety Jalen Pitre appears to be “a step ahead of everyone” during mandatory minicamp.

The Houston Texans’ roster will be a generational blend of vested veterans and youngsters in 2023.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes is entering his 14th season in the NFL, which gives him perspective when it comes to younger players asserting themselves on a team. According to the former Indianapolis Colts 2010 first-round pick, what astounded Hughes about the Texans through the first day of mandatory minicamp at Houston Methodist Training Center was the vocal participation from the younger players.

“It was amazing just to see how vocal the team was,” Hughes told reporters June 13. “Normally when you got a young team, that’s one of the things you harp on is that we’re not vocal enough, not able to move fast enough. But that’s not the case.”

One younger player who was excelling even beyond veterans was second-year safety Jalen Pitre, who led the Texans with 147 combined tackles and five interceptions last year.

“Pitre is moving probably a step ahead of everyone at this time,” said Hughes.

Coaching critiques and veteran leadership can only carry a team so far. For the Texans to truly turn the corner on their rebuilding phase, they will need more than Pitre to lead the youth movement throughout the 17-game campaign.

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Texans DE Jerry Hughes sees ‘lot of upside’ in rookie Dylan Horton

Houston Texans defensive end Jerry Hughes believes that fourth-rounder Dylan Horton has potential in the new defense.

Jerry Hughes has known Dylan Horton for a while.

The Houston Texans’ fourth-round pick was wearing Hughes’ No. 98 while with TCU, their alma mater. At the Horned Frogs’ spring game last year, Hughes introduced himself to his future Texans teammate.

“He was wearing No. 98, so, I figured go see who the guy is at TCU who is rocking my old number,” Hughes told reporters June 13 at mandatory minicamp.

Most spectators are aware the Texans shored up their edge defense with Alabama defensive end Will Anderson at No. 3 overall. However, the Texans continued to add to their trenches with Horton at No. 109 overall in Round 4.

Hughes summed up Horton as, “another tall, tremendous athlete with a lot of upside,” who has the ability to, “kind of get off the ball, use some of his size to his advantage.

Horton is listening to the instruction defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire and assistant defensive line coach Rod Wright have been dispensing throughout the Texans’ offseason workouts.

Along with undrafted defensive end Ali Gaye from LSU, Hughes believes the Texans’ defensive line has a trio of rookies who can help Houston achieve their objectives defensively in 2023.

Said Hughes: “It’s going to make us that better of a team when we have young guys that can fly around, play fast, and also be smart as well.”

The Texans gave up the most rushing yards last season at 170.2, and gave up the fourth-most yards per carry at 5.1. Having an attacking defensive line with younger players hitting their potential is a recipe to fortify the trenches.

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Texans’ Jerry Hughes details how DL differs from Tampa 2

Defensive end Jerry Hughes laid out how the Houston Texans’ defensive line will play differently from the Tampa 2 in 2023.

The Houston Texans went with the Tampa 2 for the past two seasons with Lovie Smith as defensive coordinator under David Culley in 2021 and then coach in 2022. Although the scheme was predicated on having rotations of defensive linemen, the results were underwhelming.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes had success in Smith’s scheme last season as he led the Texans with 9.0 sacks, the most since 2014 when Hughes had 10.0.

What Hughes sees from the Texans’ new defensive scheme with coach DeMeco Ryans is more of an attacking front.

“Just like the way DeMeco has us attacking off the ball, on the ball, just playing on the other team’s line of scrimmage, just really taking that attack to them,” Hughes told reporters Tuesday after mandatory minicamp. “We get to set edges, be more violent with our hands. Doing a lot of technique work in this offseason which has been really great that we get to get back to the fundamental elements of playing football.”

The Texans could stand to refine their fundamentals either individually or collectively as they gave up the most rushing yards per game at 170.2 and the fourth-most rushing yards per attempt at 5.1.

Although Hughes seemed to have success in the Tampa 2, the 34-year-old values the engagement in the new scheme.

Said Hughes: “I get to attack the tackles a lot more. I get to be more hands on, using my hands. Just things like that where it’s not so much avoiding setting the edge. Here we encourage it. I think it takes out a lot of the guessing game of what the up front is going to do. It allows the guys on the back end to play a lot faster.”

If the Texans are able to form a defense that is known for its defensive line, then it shouldn’t take much longer for the team to be known for its wins.

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WATCH: Texans argue which Gatorade flavor is the best at OTAs

Some Houston Texans players past and present weighed in on which Gatorade flavor was the best at OTAs.

The Houston Texans got to the bottom of a fundamental issue during the third week of organized team activities.

Which flavor of Gatorade is the best?

The Texans’ media team released a video on its social media accounts getting the players’ responses.

Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud answered with “lime green,” which could be either Lemon-Lime or Lime Cucumber.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes declared that the best flavor was “red,” which is known as Fruit Punch.

Texans Ring of Honor receiver Andre Johnson stated his favorite flavor was “orange,” which is actually Orange.

Michael Jordan’s favorite Gatorade flavor in the 1990s was “Citrus Cooler.”

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Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke says defense is designed to attack

Houston Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke says the new defense is predicated upon having an attacking front four.

There is a general concept of what type of defense the Houston Texans will run with new coach DeMeco Ryans. The former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator has two seasons of film spectators can observe to get a sense.

Nonetheless Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke clarified the type of defense Houston seeks to deploy in 2023.

“We’re going to base out of a four-down front, and I would just say if you wanted to do the whole pick one word, it would be attack,” Burke told reporters May 31 at organized team activities. “We play our defensive line in a penetrating style, try to edge them up, play nine techniques, those sort of things to cause disruptions.”

With the 49ers, their defense was able to generate 44 sacks, tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the 10th-most in the NFL. San Francisco shut down the oppositions’ ground game with 3.4 yards per carry surrendered, tied with the Tennessee Titans for the fewest in the league.

“Our goal is to be able to affect plays with our front by the style that they play, the attack mode they play in and penetrate and disruption and reset the line of scrimmage and those sorts of things,” said Burke. “I would say if you just wanted to bottle it up, that would be the main thing.

“Again, the more that you can pressure a quarterback with four and not have to commit other resources to doing that, that helps kind of protect your coverage a little bit so you can play multiple coverages and change that element up if you can affect the quarterback and the offense with your front. That’s kind of the general approach and philosophy that I’d say we’re taking.”

What also helps an attacking front four is to have a playmaker, which San Francisco did in defensive end Nick Bosa, who led the team with 18.5 sacks. Houston hopeful No. 3 overall pick Will Anderson can grow into that role.

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5 NFL trades we’d love to see this summer, including Mike Evans to the Ravens

We’d love to see these five NFL trades over the summer.

The NFL offseason has entered its quietest period, one where teams go through OTAs and other workouts and plan for training camp and beyond.

Although, teams are also known to pull off some trades this time of year since the post-June 1 trades typically net more salary cap relief for players with big contracts.

As we look around the NFL and see what players might could be available, there are some promising scenarios that could hypothetically unfold.

These are just our ideas, but these five possible NFL trades could really help multiple franchises in the now and in the later.

The summer can get boring for football fans, so let’s have some fun and think of what NFL trades would catch our attention in the coming months.

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Jerry Hughes says Texans’ ‘young guys’ on defense could learn from defensive-minded coach

DE Jerry Hughes believes younger defensive talent would thrive if the Houston Texans hired a defensive-minded coach.

The Houston Texans find themselves right where they have found themselves each January for the past three offseasons: at a crossroads.

Houston is on its third coaching search in as many offseasons. The theme for Houston’s coaching candidates is that they are young. The Texans have a couple of offensive-minded coaches to choose from along with top defensive coordinators that include the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jonathan Gannon and the San Francisco 49ers’ DeMeco Ryans.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes, who has been keeping up with the Texans’ coaching search, says that he would prefer to see Houston hire a defensive-mind coach as their sixth full-time coach in team history.

“[It] would be so fun for us because I’m a defensive player,” Hughes said via Aaron Wilson of KPRC-TV. “I love being in the room with those guys, being able to learn just more football. I think that would just help make us a top defense, but put everyone in the right frame of mind because of the young talent that we have.”

Hughes believes that the Texans’ younger defensive players, such as cornerback Derek Stingley, safety Jalen Pitre, and linebacker Christian Harris, all three prizes from the 2022 NFL draft, would benefit from continuing their foray into the NFL under a coach with a defensive background.

Said Hughes: “Just thinking about Jalen Pitre and Christian and just some of those young guys that can really learn from a great coach with a great defensive mind.”

The Texans have had five previous full-time coaches in franchise history, and two of them were Dom Capers (2002-05) and Lovie Smith (2022). Interestingly Wade Phillips (2013) and Romeo Crennel (2020) were the Texans’ interim coaches, and each had a defensive background.

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Jerry Hughes says Texans players have a group chat talking about coaching candidates

DE Jerry Hughes mentioned a group chat he is a part of with his teammates, and the players talk about the Houston Texans’ coaching candidates

The Houston Texans may be on a coaching search for their sixth full-time coach in team history, but it still draws considerable interesting.

One of the constituencies keeping an eye on the Texans’ coaching search are the players.

According to defensive end Jerry Hughes, the Texans players are very much aware of what is going on with the coaching search and discuss who the team is considering and who they have brought in for interviews.

“I think for the most part a group of us have been kind of chatting about it in our team chat,” Hughes said via Aaron Wilson of KPRC-TV. “We get the alerts of everyone that is interviewing. So, we’re ball players. So, we’re going to talk about their resume, how cool it would be, who we want.”

The most recent interview the Texans completed was a virtual interview with San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans.

For Hughes, who is under contract with Houston through the 2022 season, the hiring of a new coach is a chance to get the Texans out of the rebuild.

“Everyone is just excited to see who is going to be the new head coach and what direction we’re going to head,” Hughes said. “I think that’s really just what everyone is really just eager about right now.”

Hughes led the Texans with 9.0 sacks through 17 games, 16 of which he started. The former Sugar Land Stephen F. Austin High School product also collected an interception, forced two fumbles, had a pass breakup, 10 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hits, and 35 combined tackles.

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