The Texans are aiming for a step up this year.

Houston has been in a downward spiral over the past few seasons, struggling at the bottom of the National Football league and failing to make strides with turnovers among the coaching staff and front office.

But things have started to look up for Houston, especially over this offseason with strong additions to the coaching staff and through the draft and free agency.

Houston carried that momentum into Organized Team Activities, and it showed up on the field as they had a strong few weeks on the field over the past few weeks.

“Overall I’ve seen a lot of growth over the course of these three weeks of OTA’s,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans. “That growth is what excites me about working with these guys. They’re working together these young guys and veterans and to see them do that and come together over the course of this has been great. That’s the goal that we were hoping for.”

There is plenty of experience on the team but there are also plenty of young players, for rookies this was the first chance to get a taste of the NFL and CJ Stroud did everything he could to get used to the pace and practice quickly.

“The biggest thing for me is getting better every day,” Stroud said. “I’m trying to push myself, learn from the older guys and get all the feedback that I can so I can continue to improve as a player. I’m just trying to do all the little things and push myself to be great.”

Stroud and the other rookies have been helped along by veteran leaders in the Texans program. A number of key free agent signings have come through over the course of the offseason and it should help those younger players adjust to the NFL level.

“You see these guys and you’re coming into a young team and it’s so evident that all of them are hungry to prove themselves,” said tight end Dalton Schultz. “It was aweome to see coming in and then you spend some time here and you can see there’s some really good leaders on this team, especially on the defense. Hearing some of those voices in these first couple months has been great and I feel very hungry coming to work and being around guys who are that motivated to get better on a day to day basis.”

The Texans finished up with OTAs and minicamp in late June, next up on their schedule is training camp, which will start in early August.

“Minicamp was great, it really allowed us to compete at a safe level and protect each other while we do it,” Ryans said. “Those different phases allowed us to really hone in on the fundamentals, the techiques and the small things. Now when we get into training camp if our players own the techniques and fundamentals and do their job the correct way, it gives them a chance to compete once we get to preseason games.”