With the Texans' coaching staff fully intact and the combine in the rearview mirror, the team formally introduced their new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik Wednesday morning at NRG stadium.
Slowik, 35, will enter his 11th season in the NFL and his first as an offensive coordinator.
It's been a long and challenging ride for a young coach who got his start on the defensive side of the football.
"I didn't really get a shot to coach as a career until Mike Shanahan kind of brought me in," Slowik said. "That went then to Kyle, and I'd been on defense for a long time, and Kyle had always wanted me to come to offense, and then he eventually convinced me to pull the trigger and jump over to the other side of the ball. The amount of learning I went through, the growth, how much he helped bring me along, how much he challenged me, I mean it was not easy in the right way.
"It was not easy to work for him and you grow, like you grow. You learn a lot, you become a better coach, become a better person. I can't tell you how thankful I am to the Shanahan family for allowing that to happen and really bringing me up and letting me do that."
The former defensive coach and Pro Football Focus analyst joins the Texans after having spent the previous six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers organization, all of them with new Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans.
Slowik said the relationship he built with Ryans in San Francisco during their time working together is a big reason why Houston was the right fit to take the next step in his coaching career.
Two other key additions to the Texans' coaching staff played a huge role as well, with the hiring of Shane Day and Bill Lazor as senior offensive assistants.
"Bill Lazor and Shane Day for me are massive additions," Slowik said. "Shane is someone I really have a relationship with, I've spent a lot of time with. We were together for two years in San Francisco, we've talked a lot since then. He knows what I'm trying to do as far as scheme goes, we can speak the same language as far as football terminology goes and it's helpful to have someone with you that you can kind of leave the room and you know what you're saying is being repeated in the same way you say it."
While Lazor and Slowik have never worked together before, the Texans' new offensive coordinator said that prior to him joining the staff, the two hit it off and realized his experience and shared philosophy would be a perfect fit.
"I had a lot of conversations with him before he came here and we just kind of got a bond and a connection and a relationship," Slowik said. "He's called plays before, he's installed schemes before he's done it all and he's done it many different ways."
In regards to the type of offense Slowik and his staff are looking to build in Houston, the first-year OC said it doesn't come down to any one position, rather a team-wide philosophy.
"For us at the Texans, it kind of is the whole team it's not just one specific side of the ball, you know DeMeco always says 'swarm,' Slowik
Said. "That implies offense also, everything we want starts with are we fast are we physical are we tough? That again, is when you turn on the tape of our offense that's what you want to see that should be the fist thing that jumps out to you.
"Outside of that, a lot of our scheme fits are players, know how exactly that's structured is independent of each organization and each unit, but we're always going to work around who we have, and we're going to make sure that what they excel at we put on tape for them and we make sure we showcase that."
While the new league year approaches (March 15), and rumors continue to swirl regarding draft movement amongst teams in the top 10 slots, Slowik was asked Wednesday what he thought about the prospect of a rookie quarterback starting in his offense.
"We had Mr. Irrelevant, who did one heck of a job play for us in San Francisco and took us all the way to the NFC Championship game," Slowik said. "I think how you structure the entire thing, offense, that includes defenses, that includes special teams -- Everything plays a hand in how it all goes together."
It's certainly hard to argue with that answer.
However, the uber-talented roster built around the quarterback position in San Francisco certainly had just as much to do with the success of the team, if not more than the play of Brock Purdy.
At this point, that example has to be looked upon more as an exception than a rule.
Nevertheless, with Slowik essentially bringing the Shanahan playbook to Houston, you've got to feel pretty good about the fact that it was a success with Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy.
It looked pretty darn good with those guys, so with a bright, young coach in Slowik joining the Texans, and the financial flexibility the team has this offseason, plus the expected influx of young talent given the team's draft capital, you should feel pretty good at the start of this new regime.
Slowik said he was looking forward to getting boots on the ground and working with some of the young and talented players the Texans have already acquired within the last couple of years, which he said was another reason why Houston was the right fit for him.
"We have a very young group, we've got guys that are athletic, that can move, that can play the game and really we think can help develop and take another step," Slowik said. "Obviously you got two tackles already on the roster, we've got some guys at receiver, David Mills is already on the roster, we've got Dameon Pierce, there's a lot of tools that we can work with and start to put this thing together same as on the defensive side of the ball, when you start to see it all again come together and everything is fast, physical and tough it gets really exciting."
