(SportsRadio 610) - Following another disastrous regular season on many levels, the amount of questions the Texans had to answer were overwhelming.
While there is still plenty of work to be done, since the Texans hired one of the hottest coaching candidates on the market in DeMeco Ryans, the organization has been able to regain control of the all-out nosedive they've been on.
On Wednesday, Texans general manager Nick Caserio joined Marc Vandermeer and John Harris on Texans All Access and said that since Ryans was brought in, it's been a whirlwind of sorts but the two are working extremely well together.
"It's been awesome, the last however many days since he's been here," Caserio said. "It's kind of funny, he hasn't stopped. ...
"We have multiple discussions on a daily basis. He's actually been in some of our draft meetings, so he's just starting to hear about some of these players for the first time."
Since things have settled down from Ryans' hiring, the Texans' new head coach has been working diligently to learn about his new team.
"He's taken the last however many days, he's gone through our team, which is a pretty substantial exercise," Caserio said. "To familiarize himself with - understanding our players, understanding our team. If he has a question then I can kind of fill in the gaps."
Caserio said he's been available for Ryans to assist in anyway possible, but has made it a point to not force his personal opinions relative to players, rather provide background information as needed.
"We understand we have a lot of work ahead of us, but he's been great to work with, just trying to be a resource and a sounding board and just really, us kind of lean on each other a little bit, respect where he's coming from on some things," Caserio said. "I have some viewpoints and we'll kind of have to blend them together and ultimately into making good decisions for the organization."
Within the last week, Ryans and Caserio have nailed down most of the coaching staff with exception of running back, wide receiver and tight end and cornerback coaches.
Texans coaching staff/hires thus far:
Offensive coordinator - Bobby Slowik
Quarterbacks - Jerrod Johnson
Offensive line - Chris Strausser
Defensive coordinator - Matt Burke
Defensive line - Jacques Cesaire
Linebackers - Chris Kiffin
Safeties - Stephen Adegoke
Special teams - Frank Ross
Defensive pass game coordinator - Cory Undlin
Chief of Staff - Nick Kray
"Now that we kind of have, I'd say the majority of the staff in place, we've kind of transitioned to the new staff sort of familiarizing themselves with our team," Caserio said. "To have an understanding of what we have here, both players on a roster and then players that will be free agents, before we transition to looking at players externally in terms of who's going to be available league wide."
The official start of the new league year (NFL free agency) begins March 15, however, there's still plenty of things to do between now and then. Starting on Feb. 21, teams will have the opportunity to place franchise tags or transition tags on players. That period ends March 7.
The Texans scouting department and new staff are working on their plans for the upcoming NFL draft, which gets underway April 27.
"We're going through our second round of draft meetings," Caserio said. "Where this is a little bit more granular in terms of the evaluation, where we actually talk about the player, what's the role, what's the vision, what's the grade, how do we see that player and then earmarking some players that we haven't had the opportunity to visit with in terms of underclassmen. We'll have an interaction with them at the combine."
The first positional groups set to arrive in Indianapolis are defensive linemen and linebackers on Feb. 26.
Here are all of the key the dates for each positional group:
DL/LB: On-field workout - March 2
DB/Specialists: On-field workout - March 3
QB/WR/TE: On-field workout - March 4
OL/RB: On-field workout - March 5
As far the combine goes, Caserio said they've got their own philosophy and way his staff approaches the week.
"The primary focus, I would say for us, are the interviews," Caserio said. "Not that the workouts don't matter on the field, but you just have to be careful about how much stock you actually put into that."
