Brenton Strange says Jacksonville never felt like a temporary stop.
After signing his contract extension, the Jaguars tight end made it clear he wanted to stay put and keep building with the team.
“I feel like Duval is home to me,” he said, via the team’s website.
Strange also said he had a sense the extension could get done, even if he stayed focused on the part he could control.
“You let your agents take care of that and you hear every once in a while they had talks and that was something that was going on,” he said. “You can’t focus on those things if you want to continue to get better and you want to continue just doing what you need to do.
When the season was over, I kind of had a feeling that it might happen, but you never know. I’m just excited to be here and continue building on what we started.”
Jaguars GM James Gladstone said Strange’s value goes beyond one area of the offense. He pointed to the way the tight end can help both on the ground and through the air.
“Over the course of last season, it was clear Brenton was an important part of what we’re building here,” Gladstone said. “He will continue to grow within the confines of the offense and be a weapon in both the pass and the run game.”
In Houston, Texans defensive end Dylan Horton said he has leaned heavily on Will Anderson, Jr. and Danielle Hunter. For Horton, the biggest lesson has come from watching how they handle everything around the game, not just the game itself.
“I can’t even emphasize how much they are great people before I even get into what they do on the field,” Horton said of Anderson Jr. and Hunter, via the team’s website. “Just kind of how they approach the day, how you can see the professionalism - nutrition, recovery, workouts. Having them in the room, having them to just learn off of, conversate with, is special.”
Horton said he’s prepared for whatever role comes his way.
“Whenever the ball snaps, the game time is here, it’s time to go play,” Horton said. “The game’s over, you go ahead and relax, take a deep breath, do some recovery.”
Texans cornerback Derek Stingley, Jr. said his offseason work has centered on footwork, and he believes that will help him play faster in 2026.
“I feel like I’m a little bit quicker right now,” Stingley said, via Click2Houston. “I’ve just still got to work on my feet, hands, eyes. Whether that’s beginning of the route, the end of the route, I got to make sure I catch all the ones that come my way.”
Stingley also praised S Reed Blankenship for fitting in quickly with Houston’s secondary.
“As soon as he stepped out there, he meshed well with everybody,” Stingley said. “He’s out there communicating, he knows how to converse with everybody off the field, nothing’s forced, he’s being himself, and I think he going to make a lot of plays just like he’s been doing everywhere else he’s been.
As a team, I feel like we just got to keep stacking on defense, make sure we got communication. I know we got a couple of new pieces, but they just stepped up since we’ve been out here on the field, they just stepped up, kept doing work to the level that they should be at.”
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