HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) -- The Texans are being very cautious with J.J. Watt, managing how much he practices and what exactly he does at training camp.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has been noticeably missing at most padded practices for the Texans.
Head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien has talked about players being in different ramp-up phases. The veterans, particularly ones with injury history like Watt and wide receiver Will Fuller, are being managed carefully.
That's why at training camp, players like Charles Omenihu are seeing more reps with Watt on a different schedule, and receivers Chad Hansen and Stevie Mitchell see so much time with the first team.
Watt stays in incredible shape and likely needs far less practice than other players.
One element of Watt's game he's worked on over the years is teaching.
He's wanted to get better at articulating coaching points to younger players with different skill sets and less experience.
"It's something that I've had to physically work on to make sure that I can articulate the things that I want to say in the best way possible," Watt said last week. "Because there are some things that on the field that I can do that some other guy that has a different skill set that he has to do a different way or there's something another guy can do that I can't do.
"What I had to learn over time was how to properly articulate a coaching point to a younger player, and I think that's something I've actually worked hard on and that think I'm getting a lot better at. So with a young guy now, let's say it's Ross (Blacklock) or 'Big Z' (Auzoyah Alufohai) or whoever it is on our d-line, I do think I can communicate that a lot better and say, 'hey, I think this is what you're seeing, here's what I would do in that situation. Here's where your eyes should be. Here's where your feet would be.' Not necessarily saying, 'this is what I would do.' Because obviously as a player who has been in the league for a long time and who sees things a little differently, a rookie is not necessarily at that point, so you can't throw on them, 'hey, when it's gun-near and they have a guy in this set, I'm going to take that C-gap right out of the gate.' He's going to get yelled at if he does that. I don't want him to get yelled at by the coaches, so I'm going to say 'key your eyes on his inside shoulder and place your hands here and then make sure you have the C-gap secured.'
"You just have to do things like that where you're putting it in a context that they can understand and also trying not to overwhelm them because these rookies have thousands of things flying through their mind right now, especially this year more than ever, and you don't want to overwhelm them."
When asked about Watt's health, O'Brien said not to make much of Watt's absence. As Watt mentioned before, he's worked with O'Brien and executive vice president of player personnel Jack Easterby on a suitable plan to keep him healthy before the season.
"He's doing fine," O'Brien said during a Zoom video call Thursday. "I mean, he's played a lot of football and he knows how to play football. What's important for him and for us is he's in great condition and that he's ready to go on Sept. 10. So his ramp-up is different than anyone else's and I could say about Will Fuller and Brandin Cooks.
"Everybody's ramp-up is a little bit unique. … I just wouldn't read too much into (Watt not practicing) going forward, I really wouldn't."
Watt's health has been his biggest obstacle in the last few years. He's been placed on injured reserve, seemingly with season-ending injuries, in three of the past four seasons.
Last season, he returned from a torn pectoral muscle for the Texans' playoff run.
