What Nick Caley wants to see from Texans’ offense against Vikings: ‘Good fundamentals’

MINNEAPOLIS – As new Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley dons his headset and calls plays Saturday for the first time with the defending AFC South champions, he has a clear vision for how he wants the offense to look.

The Texans are an overhauled group replete with staff changes, a reset offensive line, a new-look receiving corps and a new voice overseeing it all.

For Caley, 42, a former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams assistant and a fast-rising offensive coach, it’s about execution and details. The Texans’ offense, led by quarterback C.J. Stroud and Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins and Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon, are in a time of change with a new playbook being installed by Caley.

He’s overseeing the direction of the offense and he knows what he wants exactly what he wants the Texans’ offense to look like when they hit the field Saturday afternoon in a road preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

“I want to see good fundamentals,” Caley told KPRC 2. “I want us to compete, win our one-on-ones, whether that’s up front with the line, tight ends in the run game, whether it’s route detail. When the bullets are flying and your heart rate’s up or we get into our route depth, are we playing within the timing and the rhythm of the offense? Are we protecting inside out? Are we taking good care of the football?

“The fundamentals, to me, that’s what makes the game go. That’s a mark of a good team. Successful team, is when you play with good fundamentals and take care of the football So that’s what I’m looking forward to going out and competing and hitting somebody else and getting a chance to to go let these guys go play.”

When the Texans hired Caley as their new offensive coordinator, they put their trust in a strategist with a successful background who’s versed in two different offensive systems.

Caley, 42, absorbed a ton of knowledge with the Patriots while working under Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels as a younger position coach who was tasked with coaching two colorful, talented veteran tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett and earned two Super Bowl rings. With the Rams, he was the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator

Now, Caley is learning on the job as a rookie play-caller tasked with competing against an aggressive, elite defense headlined by pass rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. and All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.

Caley is liking the personality and work ethic across the offense. That’s a good starting foundation.

“They work, they love football,” Caley said. “I’ve been very pleased with them. We have a great group of guys, all positions, and it’s been a lot of fun. And from the vets to the rookies, I mean, the whole group, it’s, it’s a lot fun every single day, and that’s, that’s the biggest part is being around good people, and we have a lot of good people.”

The high-energy style of Caley resonates strongly with Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the year. Caley frequently texts and calls Stroud, at all hours of the day.

“Nick is a fiery young coach who loves to yell and run around,” Stroud said. “I love it. He brings juice to the building every day. So, I’m excited to work with him every day and try to build a relationship. He’s done a good job relating to the players and always asking us what we want, how we want to do things and making it player owned. I love that of him.”

Watching Caley at practice, he’s in constant motion. He’s filled with intensity.

“Man, you can tell by his enthusiasm every day,” Collins said. “He’s a great coach. You can tell in the meetings. He talks about the plays, the install, just explaining the install, just his grit, his mind behind it, his energy, dog. You can feel it. He gets you pumped up to go out here and play.”

A former student assistant coach at John Carroll University, the same alma mater as Texans general manager Nick Caserio along with pro personnel director D.J. Debick, special teams coordinator Frank Ross and senior offensive assistant-passing game specialist Jerry Schuplinski, became even more advanced as a coach the past two seasons working for McVay as the Rams’ tight ends coach and passing game coordinator.

It’s an ultra-successful coaching foundation that gave the Texans a ton of confidence in hiring Caley, a first-time offensive coordinator and play-caller, as the replacement for dismissed offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

Readiness is a recurring theme with Caley.

The Ohio native and St. Thomas Aquinas graduate played football at Walsh University before working as a student assistant at John Carroll University, a Division III powerhouse where Caserio was a record-setting quarterback throwing passes to McDaniels.

Caley grew up in Canton, Ohio in a football-oriented household just three miles away from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He looked up to Thom McDaniels, a high school football legend in Ohio who’s the father of Josh McDaniels and Texans receivers coach and passing game coordinator Ben McDaniels.

Before moving on to several stops as a college assistant coach at Florida Atlantic where he recruited Texans team captain and starting linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair working at Akron, Iowa State, Arkansas, Auburn and Eastern Illinois, Staley broke into the coaching ranks at John Carroll.

Working for Regis Scafe, the head coach at JCU, Caley built a reputation as someone who embraced any work assignment he could gets his hands on. Whenever he finished something in the recruiting department, he asked for more and more work to do. When he was taught how to do something, he learned it right away and didn’t make mistakes.

“He did a really good job as a student and we put him in charge of gameday visits,” Scafe said in a telephone interview with KPRC 2. “I look at where he is now and you’ve got really admire and respect what he did, the way his career has taken off. What he did in college, so many stops and, of course, what he’s done in the NFL, he really put in the time. He was always very efficient, very organized. No one has given him anything. He really deserved this.

“He worked his butt off. He has all the experience with the Patriots and the Rams. He coached Gronk, one of the greatest tight ends ever, and he did a good job. Look at his career, step by step. He’s ready. It’s amazing. He decided early on that he was going to go into coaching. With the Patriots, I think they slept in the office. Belichick would get guys in there and see if they’re good enough and if they work hard enough and understand enough.”

Those formative years, working at JCU, working for Belichick, working for McVay, all molded Caley.

"I think we’re all a byproduct of our experiences and I cherish every experience that we’ve had,“ Caley said. ”You learn from the successes and you learn from a lot of failures along the way, too. Those guys have been big mentors to me and I have a lot of respect for them. So, you learn every day along the way and that’s what I try to do is just, you know, try to be at my best every single day."

The Texans are expected to play a lot of backups in this first preseason game. Most starters that do play will not play extensively. It’s about evaluation, not necessarily the outcome of a meaningless game in terms of standings.

“Give our guys an opportunity to go out there and compete, get good work in obviously, and see our guys go out and play,” Caley said. “And we’ve been at it for the spring and now the starting part of fall, the beginning stages of fall. So, just have an opportunity go out and play some real football.”

For rookies like wide receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, running back Woody Marks and offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery, this represents a significant moment. It’s their first NFL game.

"Just to go be the same guy they are here every single day," Caley said. “And it’s still the same game they’ve been playing since they’ve being young. And it just a great opportunity for them to get a chance to do it in their first NFL game.”

At camp, there have been some tough moments terms of interceptions, allowing penetration to the defense at the line of scrimmage in pass protection and run blocking. There have been too many false starts, but it’s getting better.

As Caley puts his stamp on the Texans’ overhauled offense that includes a significantly different offensive line after trading five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, he’s maintaining a big-picture perspective.

Not every opposing defense is going to be as good as the Texans. Plus, the offense expects to make progress as they absorb more knowledge and achieve a comfort zone in Caley’s offense.

Higgins, the Texans’ top draft pick, is an imposing downfield target at 6-foot-4, 217 pounds. He’s off to a fast start at training camp.

“He’s mature beyond his years,” Caley said. “He’s a pro. He’s got the right demeanor. He’s in here all the time.”

Caley utilizes a fullback in his offense with Jakob Johnson, a former Patriots lead blocker. Johnson provides blocking punch and knowledge of what Caley wants to run.

“It allows you to activate a different personnel grouping, obviously,” Caley said. “You can do some different things. He has versatility to not just play in the backfield, you can activate some different schemes.

“I think that fullback position in general, and I would say it’s an extension to the tight ends, that brings a toughness to a football team. It enhances the toughness. I’ve got experience with Jak. He’s all in. He pours everything he has into it.”

When Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was playing high school football in Tampa, Fla., his recruiter was Caley. Caley built a relationship with Al-Shaair, whose family was dealing with homelessness at the time.

“Nick Caley is literally somebody who’s known me from the time I was a 16-year-old homeless kid,” Al-Shaair said. “He’s been to my motel that I lived in to now, you know, for both of us to be in the position that we’re in, you know, literally 10 years later. It’s just crazy, you know, because we kept up with each other.

“He actually never coached me at FAU. He left as soon as my class signed. He ended up leaving to go to the NFL right away. But he literally called me and talked to me all the time from that point forward. And you would have thought he coached me for all those years. But we always had a really close relationship, and he always kept up with me. So, I’m grateful to have him here. He’s just an old friend that just reminds me of how far I’ve come as well.”

Caley was hired by Ryans with input from Caserio and other key members of the organization, including consulting with players like Stroud during the process. Stroud was sacked 52 times to rank second in the NFL as he passed for 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in a drop-off from his NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year numbers of 23 touchdowns and five interceptions.

The Rams ranked 10th in passing offense last season as quarterback Matthew Stafford had 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions

With the Rams, Caley became well-versed and instrumental to what Sean McVay runs to capitalize on the skills of Stafford and wide receiver Puka Nacua.

Now, Caley takes over an offense in need of a boost.

The best offensive player in franchise history, Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Johnson, is a believer in Caley and how he can provide an edge for an offense that reached a crossroads last season with shortcomings in pass protection and a lack of adjustments to complex defensive schemes.

“I think it was a great hire,” Johnson told KPRC 2. “Very creative mind, just very excited. To see what we have right now for the organization, things have been trending in the right direction.”

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Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.