HOUSTON – Nick Caley waited years for the moment, climbing the football ladder from every rung of college football and the NFL before emerging as the Texans’ offensive coordinator.
Caley has hit the ground running, by all accounts.
Recommended Videos
As he implements his offense and imparts knowledge gained from Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels and his collaboration with Sean McVay, Caley was in constant motion and brimming with enthusiasm as he taught and installed the playbook to the Texans’ rookies at a minicamp.
The replacement for former Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, Caley is strategist versed in two different offensive systems. Now, Caley, 42, is applying what he’s learned.
While working for McVay in Los Angeles, Caley coaches the tight ends and was the Rams’ passing game coordinator. Although he’ll be a rookie play-caller, Caley has been preparing for the demands of the job, adapting on the fly, building game plans, working with quarterback C.J. Stroud and marrying his strategic focus to the Texans’ personnel.
“Yeah, Nick Caley has done an outstanding job,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It‘s really connecting with the staff, connecting with the players. He’s done a really good job of making it his, making the offense the Houston Texans. It’s been a very thorough process, a very detailed approach, which was the same throughout his interview process.
“The energy is on 100 every single day. So, I love the positive energy that he brings, the smile, the joy that he brings to work every day. And that rubs off on the players. So, he’s done a fantastic job of that. It’s been great working with him. I know he’s going to do a really great job of leading that side of the ball.”
When Caley was a younger position coach in New England, he was tasked with coaching two colorful, talented veteran tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett and earned two Super Bowl rings.
Caley, a former student assistant coach at John Carroll, 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.
Now, Caley is working on indoctrinating rookie wide receivers Jayden Higgins, the team’s top draft pick, and Jaylin Noel along with offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery, running back Woody Marks and quarterback Graham Mertz from the Texans’ draft class.
“Nick Caley, he is awesome,” said Higgins, a 6-foot-4, 214-pound second-round draft pick from Iowa State. “Sending a lot of motivation, really just showing how excited he is for the season and really just getting in here and learning all the new things they have to install. Then, receivers coach-passing game coordinator] coach Ben [McDaniels] has been good as well. It is really just a lot of install we have been going over and diving into the playbook. He has been great as well, for sure.”
Caley is overseeing an offense headlined by Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins and Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon. The primary task for the Texans’ offense is getting better pass protection for Stroud, who was sacked 52 times during the regular season last year and 11 more times during the playoffs. Run blocking was inconsistent, too. The Texans overhauled their offensive line, trading five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil and former first-round guard Kenyon Green, cutting right guard Shaq Mason and signing left tackle Cam Robinson, left guard Laken Tomlinson and trading for guard Ed Ingram.
Caley reunited with Cole Popovich, who was promoted to offensive line coach-run game coordinator, after previously working with him in New England under Belichick and learning from venerable offensive line coach Dante Scarneccia.
“Two unique guys, two funny guys that have personalities that know a lot about ball,” said Ersery, a second-round pick from Minnesota and a former Big Ten Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year. “They are human and they are not robots. They are not out there trying to teach you like a robot. If there is a mistake or something, they are going to stop and slow down to fix it and work from there.”
The approach from Caley shapes up as ultra-detailed and aggressive, and he’ll be backstopped by senior offensive assistant Bill Lazor, a former offensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals, senior offensive assistant and passing game specialist Jerry Schuplinkski, assistant head coach and running backs coach Danny Barrett, quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson, tight ends coach Jake Moreland, receivers coach and McDaniels, Josh McDaniels’ brother.
When Stroud breaks the huddle this fall after delivering the play call to his teammates, the Texans’ quarterback will experience something brand new in his NFL career.
Heading into his third season, the former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year is being granted more responsibility and trust to orchestrate the Texans’ offense under newly hired offensive coordinator Nick Caley.
The collaboration between Stroud, a former Pro Bowl selection, and Caley, a first-time offensive coordinator schooled in the Los Angeles Rams’ offense built by Sean McVay and the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady era schemes of Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels, is pivotal to the outlook of the defending AFC South champions.
Now, Stroud is going to have increased flexibility to run the offense. That includes making adjustments before the snap as he scans the defense and has the ability to audible and change plays and protection schemes in tandem with Caley.
“I will be able to put my swag on it, have fun with it,” Stroud said. “He is all about me taking full ownership, running the show, and that’s what I want. I’m gonna get what I want and it’s really been really cool just to see that he’s bought into me and he doesn’t really know me well yet. He talked about having blind trust and I have a lot of trust in him already. Just how he talks and how he presents in the room is really cool to see.”
This is what Stroud has been preparing for, advancing in his game and knowledge to the point where he can put his personal stamp on the offense Caley is installing. The replacement for offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, dismissed after the offense regressed last season due to a lack of adjustments, substandard pass protection and an unwillingness to listen to input from key players and assistant coaches, per league sources, Caley represents an agent of change for the Texans.
‘He’s a great leader:’ Why Texans owner Cal McNair has faith in Texans QB C.J. Stroud
While a relatively stagnant offense and Stroud dipped significantly statistically last season one year after he was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year largely, the Texans are confident that Stroud will take another leap in his development next season.
For a franchise with ambitions set on making a deep playoff run after losing in consecutive years in the AFC divisional round, Stroud represents a key figure in everything they’re working toward. Stroud is a year removed from being eligible for what’s shaping up to be a blockbuster contract extension. And the Texans would gladly reward Stroud as long as the team captain continues to make strides in his overall game. There’s a strong belief in Stroud in the locker room, from the coaching staff and at the top of the organization from ownership.
“He’s a great person, so he has all of our respect,” Texans principal owner Cal McNair said of Stroud during the NFL owners meetings at The Breakers Hotel. “I think we’ve seen his ability on the field is totally there to lead the team. We’ve seen it for two years now, and I think he’ll take another step this year. He’s a great leader and we’re looking for him to lead us where we’ve never gone before. We think he can do it.”
A former second overall pick, consensus All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State, Stroud, 23, has won a pair of AFC wild-card round playoff wins. He has completed 66.1 percent of his throws for a combined 976 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in the playoffs. In the regular season, Stroud has a 19-13 winning percentage with 63.5 percent accuracy, 7,835 yards, 43 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and a 93.7 passer rating.
Caley worked closely with prolific Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, a strong-armed gunslinger, as the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator under McVay.
Stroud was sacked eight times and hit 14 times overall in a playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The thinking is, if the play-calling is upgraded along with the play and blocking schemes of the offensive line, Stroud will go back to the high-level trajectory his career was on as a rookie.
Caley takes over an offense headlined by Stroud, who emulates Brady’s even-keeled approach and is an admirer of Stafford’s style of play.
“He comes from L.A. and New England and he is going to bring some of that swag over here, so that kind of is what I’m used to,” Stroud said of Caley. “Taking control and being a little more pre=snap, having tools to put my guys in the best position. That is something that we really didn’t work on these last two years.
“Even those principles I learned from, and it made me better because it added a new element to my game. We will be able to just get better and learn from what he did with New England and L.A. and will definitely help me because those are two schemes I am used to in a sense. That is kind of what I ran at Ohio State, kind of how New England does a little bit, L.A. is kind of what we ran here these last two years.”
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. They interviewed Caley, Johnson, Lazor, Syracuse offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, Washington Commanders assistant head coach/passing game coordinator Brian Johnson and new Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski.
“I think the great thing for Nick is he was always preparing to take those next steps while still being totally present in his role,” McVay told KPRC 2 at the NFL owners meetings. “I go back to his foundation starting with coach Belichick, the amount of ball you’re exposed to, doing ball the right way, he was ready. He sees the game through an All-22 lens. I think he’s going to do an excellent job. He’s been preparing himself based on the way he approaches every single day. I think their background, these guys see the game from a big-picture lens.”
“Nick has an infectious energy and enthusiasm. He’s going to bring it every single day. Jerry has got a great demeanor. I think they’ll balance each other out. He’ll be a great addition to be in that quarterback room with C.J.. and some of the other great coaches they have. I’m fired up for Nick. He’ll do a great job. I think he and DeMeco are really great personality fits and fired up for my guy, Nick.”
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.
“High school football was big,” Caley said. “At about the age of nine, I knew I wanted to be a coach. My dream early on was to be a high school football coach in Stark County, Ohio, similar to Thom McDaniels.
“I watched him at Camp McKinley as a kid growing up. I’ve always wanted to coach. It’s part of the fabric of my life and my dad took me to a lot of games as a kid.”
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. “You’ve got to schedule them, talk to the parents, do the tours. Timing is big, and he took it on willingly. 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. Then, they’ll give you a title. When he first went in there, he had no position to coach. They want to see what you are like under fire. Now having a chance to move up in your career and work for good people that makes a difference. He made the right choice. He knows Nick. And the Texans are the JCU of the South right now.”
Now, Caley takes over an offense in flux that regressed last season under Slowik.
Instead, they have hired Caley to rejuvenate an offense that dipped to 19th in scoring as they averaged 21.9 points per game and 22nd in total offense with an average of 319.7 yards per contest for a team that won its second consecutive division title under Ryans’ leadership.
The Texans’ offense regressed under Slowik, who struggled to make adjustments on the fly when his game plan wasn’t clicking, didn’t adapt the protection schemes to better protect Stroud, who was sacked eight times and hit 14 times overall in an AFC divisional round loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, and had lost the confidence of the locker room, including key offensive players as well as now-former colleagues on the coaching staff, according to league sources.
“It was a very difficult decision,” Caserio said. “Bobby did a lot of great things for the organization, I have a lot of respect for him. We just felt this was the best thing for us. Demeco felt this was a decision we needed to make.”
Having a coach with Caley’s experience working in the creativity of the McVay system, an offshoot of the version of the West Coast offense first popularized by former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh and adopted by Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan, is regarded around the league as a positive for the Texans’ outlook.
There will be familiarity for Stroud, who will need to speak the same language from a scheme standpoint as Caley. Caley is expected to put his own personal stamp on an offense in need of an overhaul and some new tweaks and wrinkles.
What will the Texans run under Caley’s direction? What’s his vision? Is the offense going to have pieces of the Patriots and Rams’ schemes his background stems from in the NFL?
“It’s going to be Houston’s,” Caley said. “It’s going to be our scheme based on what we do. I don’t say that to throw any curveballs. It really is. As a first-time coordinator, I’m really excited to have the opportunity to evolve this scheme. It’s not going to be my spin, it’s going to be what’s best for our players.
“It’s always going to be what’s best for our players. We’re not pounding a square peg into a round hole. It’s going to be based on the strengths of our quarterback, the players and the guys on this team. That’s what it will always be designed around.”
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.
“He’s a special coach,” McVay said of Caley when he was contemplating interviewing for the Jets job he was viewed as a favorite to land if he had pursued the position that went to former Detroit Lions passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand. “He’s done a great job for us. I love everything this guy is about. I think it’s really cool when these guys are offered opportunities to be able to elevate themselves and you want to evaluate all options.”
Source: Texans to interview Rams passing game coordinator-tight ends coach Nick Caley on Thursday
With the Rams, Caley became well-versed and instrumental to what 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.”
From Johnson’s standpoint, he’s optimistic that the collaboration between Caley and Stroud will be mutually beneficial.
“I think it’s a great thing,” Johnson said. “(Caley) has worked with some great players and C.J. is a great player. I’m sure they’ll be picking each others’ brains. C.J. is a kid who really wants to learn. He’s always trying to do something to better himself. The future is bright for the organization. I can’t wait for next season.”
Caley emphasized that the Texans will tailor their weekly strategies as a “game plan team.” Those words echo what Belichick frequently said in New England and believed in to create a competitive edge.
“If that meant we were going to run duo and gap schemes and run the ball 45 times a game to win the game, then that’s what we were going to do,” Caley said. “If we had to run more perimeter plays, wide zone, and we felt that was going to give us the edge, we were going to do that. We’re going to ask our guys to do what they do well. But it’s going to be based on what we do to help us win. At the end of the day, we want to win, and that’s the priority for us.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com
