On the road again

Yet another training camp tour, yet another NFL franchise

This is the first in a series of postcards Sports Illustrated's Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL training camp tour.

Tuesday, July 23

Team: Houston Texans

The Texans' practice facility, six miles south of downtown Houston, in the shadow of new Reliant Stadium. There's a heavy construction presence both here and in the city. They say the stadium will be ready for the Aug. 24 preseason home opener with Miami, and I guess I trust them, but there had better be some OT paid out over the next month is all I can say. One other thing: The heat index for the Texans' only practice of the day at 3 p.m. Tuesday (they alternate two-a-days with one-a-days in Capersville) was 112 degrees.

1. I think Tony Boselli will play left tackle for this team. I just don't know when. No one here will say it, but I get the feeling doctors here would have handled the surgery on Boselli's left shoulder, which was performed in Jacksonville, differently than the Jags did. The corrective surgery done in June could push the veteran's return back to October. He's not even lifting weights yet, and if you're not lifting early in training camp, the outlook for playing when the bullets start flying in six weeks is not good. All Boselli did this afternoon was run some 100-yard sprints with fellow hurtee, center Mike Newell.

2. I think the depth chart at safety is quite possibly the weakest I've ever seen on an NFL team. Matt Stevens is here, though. I do believe he has played for every NFL franchise since the Providence Steam Roller.

3. I think the backup who will play if David Carr isn't ready -- and Carr looked very good while I was watching -- is Mike Quinn, not Kent Graham. The coaches have been impressed by Quinn's work ethic and arm in minicamps. Graham, on the other hand, walked off the field a bit woozy Tuesday afternoon ("I've got to get some fluids in me," he said with an spacy look on his face as he was escorted off by a trainer) and will need a good camp to ensure a roster spot.

4. I think Daryl Gardener, the former Dolphins defensive lineman in search of a new home, didn't make many friends here while in town for a tryout. Houston won't be signing him. One Texans mole told me Gardener's flight was 30 minutes early, and when the kid from camp was a few minutes late to pick him up, Gardener got huffy. The team thinks he's too much of an injury risk (with a balky back and neck) to spend real money on him, which some club will do.

5. I think my name of the day is rookie free-agent wideout Atnaf Harris, from Cal State Northridge. The only thing I can figure is his mom was drinking a bottle of Fanta grape soda (one of the all-time great sodas, by the way, if you've never had the pleasure) in the delivery room, got groggy during delivery, and saw the reflection of the bottle in a mirror, and said: "Atnaf! I shall name him Atnaf!" Well, it's about the only thing I can think of. Nomar Garciaparra's parents named him the reverse of his dad's name, Ramon, and that hasn't worked out too badly.

Running back Jonathan Wells. The fourth-round pick from Ohio State has the size (6-foot-1, 231 pounds) and pedigree (1,331 yards, 16 touchdowns for the Buckeyes last year) to make me ask: How'd he last until the fourth round? From watching practice this afternoon, I'd say he has some Eddie George in him. Wells runs upright, with great power. He'll get every chance to win the starting job, fantasy geeks.

At safety. At running back, unless Wells has a great summer. And at left tackle, if Boselli's not ready to go. The Texans lined up two rookies on the first-team offensive line today.

Seven years ago Dom Capers made his first cut as an NFL head coach, in the first year of the expansion Panthers. He released an oft-injured lineman named Bill Goldberg. The wrestling Goldberg, as it turns out.

Walking the practice fields Tuesday morning with Casserly, I said, "You know, every one of these facilities is better than the last one. Your place is incredible."

I'm not one to turn my nose up at free food, and the training-camp lunch served in the bowels of Reliant Stadium was certainly better than Wendy's. But it will not go down in training table history as a big-timer. Entree: Broiled breast of chicken. I left the chicken gravy off, though my lunch partner, GM Charley Casserly, seemed to enjoy it. Nice cut, without the gravy ... B- Sides: Nice mashed potatoes, with melted butter atop them ... B+. And slightly overcooked, though tasty, cauliflower ... C+. Mealy salad, poor dressing choices ... D No dessert, not after the drive-thru cini-minis at Burger King in the morning. Dasani Water ... B+. What, no Ozarka? Overall grade ... C+

The practice fields, particularly. "Like putting greens at Augusta," owner Bob McNair told me. There are three daily-cut 100-yard fields, a half-field with blocking sleds and other equipment, a three-lane springy running track surrounding the fields, an indoor air-conditioned bubble ("the biggest bubble in North America," Casserly said, sounding like a new dad), a couple of tented cooling zones for players with monster fans (this is where I interviewed Carr after practice and felt 25 degrees cooler), and The Hill. At the far end of the field complex is a steep AstroTurfed hill of maybe 20 yards. "There used to be a guy who lived in Houston and trained players, and his name was Tom Williams," Casserly said. "He had players run a hill to get ready for the season and they swore by it. It became a famous thing, running the hill in the dog days of summer. So we put it here this offseason." Players don't run it during camp, but it was used plenty in the weeks before. What a punishing looking thing it is, and daunting.

There is much about this team to like. Carr threw several perfect passes downfield, right on the money. Jabar Gaffney is a smooth receiver, fast and able to maneuver in an out of cuts like a veteran. Aaron Glenn is 30, but he's frisky, and I think he has some Darrell Green blood in him; the Texans want him here a long time. Linebacker Kailee Wong runs around like a man possessed. He could be a star in Capers' attacking system.

This isn't your father's expansion team. With five above-average NFL starters on Day 1 on defense (Wong, Glenn, Jamie Sharper, Seth Payne and Gary Walker), Houston won't have the typical expansion learning curve. The Texans should start out pretty well, but with no appreciable influx of free agents next year (Casserly doesn't think they'll be free-agent shoppers to a large degree because good players won't be in the market), they could win five this year and five next year.

"You know football," said Casserly. "So much of it's on the quarterback."

I don't know Carr. I spent 15 minutes with him Tuesday and was impressed, but I have no idea how he'll do when the season begins in earnest. The one thing he has going for him -- and I mentioned this to Capers, who agreed -- is that Carr is much more well-suited to being the center of a franchise, the big man on campus, than a lot of high-drafted quarterbacks are. Case in point: Kerry Collins, who was so ill-equipped to be the first pick of a franchise in 1995 that he told then-Panthers head coach Capers that he needed a day off to clear his head ... on the first minicamp of his pro career.

Five wins sounds about right, particularly in a division that features no winning teams from 2001, the AFC South.

Redskins, Carlisle, Pa.

Check back soon for more of Peter King's Postcards from Camp. Or visit the archive to catch up.