HOUSTON – For a creative offensive mind with a strong background that included working with New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski, Nick Caley operated last season with a hand tied behind his back.
Due to injuries, though, the Texans offensive coordinator and former Patriots tight ends and fullbacks coach and Los Angeles Rams tight ends coach and pass game specialist didn’t get to run his entire strategy to incorporate his ideas.
Recommended Videos
Veteran starting tight end Dalton Schultz was sidelined for the Texans’ AFC divisional round playoff loss to New England due to a strained calf. Tight end Cade Stover missed a large chunk of the season after breaking his foot against the Rams in the opening game. And Brevin Jordan tore his patellar tendon during a training camp practice. The Texans had to deploy offensive tackle Blake Fisher as their primary blocking tight end.
While Schultz caught a career-high 82 passes, Caley had bigger plans at tight end. Now, he’s planning an increased role for the tight ends. That means more double tight end, triple tight end and perhaps even split back formations for running backs David Montgomery and Woody Marks.
The Texans utilized 12 personnel on 24.26 percent of their offensive snaps last season. They were in 11 personnel -- one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers - 58.11 percent of the time. And they were in 21 personnel -- heavy formations -- 17.63 percent of the time.
“I am a little bit biased there because of my background with tight ends, but you remember it is important,” Caley said. “I think you always want to be multiple. To nobody’s fault, last year we got thinned out pretty early with Brev prior to us ever getting to the season. Cade goes down in the fourth quarter of the Rams game for call it two-thirds of the season, and we’re in the jumbo world a lot.
“We want to be multiple. We want to have balance, 11, 12s, 13s, 20, etcetera, and I think that’s always good to be able to do those things. So, that’s important. We’ve got a really good group of receivers. We’ve got a really good group of backs. We’ve got a really good group at tight end now, too, and we’re healthy. So, it’s been a lot of fun just trying to mix those groupings here and evolve that.”
Since last season, the Texans signed a healthy Schultz to a one-year, $12.6 million extension, signed former New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders tight end Foster Moreau and drafted University of Michigan tight end and Germany native Marlin Klein in the second round,
That gives Caley options from a receiving and blocking standpoint.
“Cales is a tight end guy,” Schultz said. “He’s always trying something. There are always little wrinkles like, ‘Hey, let’s do this out of this formation. Let’s try this out of this. Let’s motion it.’ I don’t think he goes to bed without thinking about ball, I don’t think he can turn it off.
“We’re always coming in, mixing stuff up. He’s really good about letting us know, ‘Hey, on this, let’s do this different.’ That’s been fun, where you can get away with trying some of that. You’ve got a little bit more time to spend on stuff like that.”
Moreau has added an experienced presence and an outspoken, trash-talking voice to the offense. He has been mentoring the younger players.
Stover has fully recovered from offseason hernia surgery.
Jordan has regained his speed after rehabbing from the patellar tendon tear.
“We’re not quite there yet,” Schultz said. “We’ll see when the reins come off everybody, but I’m excited. We have a very well-rounded room and a bunch of guys that do a lot of different stuff really well. I think Foster has been a great addition for us, just bringing the energy, the juice.
“He’s a classic Louisiana kid, chirping everything all the time. We need that, especially on offense. We need that sort of thing. I think our room has come together nicely. We’ll continue to work and to get better and show that we can contribute in many different ways in this offense.”
The Texans, with new tight ends coach James Ferentz, a former Texans and Patriots center and the son of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, want to employ more of a roll-up-their sleeves, hard-nosed approach to blocking this season.
“It’s hard because, as a tight end, you’re asked to do everything,” Schultz said. “You constantly have to be working on everything. I know that’s not the best answer or the easiest thing to do. It’s hard when you’re asked to pass block against Will Anderson. It’s hard when you’re asked to run block against Danielle Hunter. It’s hard when you’re asked to go one-on-one against Derek Stingley. You’re asked to do all these things and all the different facets.
“I think with Ferentz coming in, he has a really good kind of offensive line, physical run blocking background. I’m hoping through some of that work, that’ll kind of allow a little bit more growth in the run game, for me specifically. Just by working through some of those fundamentals and techniques that is just a different view and a focal point than what I think we’re used to technique-wise.”
Klein strained his hamstring during organized team activities and was sidelined for the Texans’ minicamp. He is expected to make a full recovery for training camp.
“Good athlete, he’s a big dude, he moves well,” Schultz said. “I think in this offense, specifically, you are asked to do everything. Knowing where to be and where to line up and how to execute is like a big hurdle. It’s a big learning curve.
“I think as a young guy, being able to soak that up and to get that information and use it well and able to go out and actually line up and execute at full speed, it’s hard to do. So far, I think he’s done a good job of that. Training Camp kind of is the true test of putting the pads on and figuring out like when the bullets are flying. We’ll see. I’m excited for him.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com