Willie McGinest accomplished a lot in his whirlwind trip to Houston on Monday.
First and foremost, he put in time as an NFL Network correspondent, interviewing the likes of Bill O'Brien, J.J. Watt and Vince Wilfork.
Before that, he spoke with the Texans players on Monday afternoon.
And between those gigs, he snuck away to the Green Lot and helped judge the 2015 Tailgater of the Game Training Camp edition barbecue cookoff.
The speech he gave to the team, though, was important according to O'Brien.
"It is always great to see Willie," O'Brien said. "He is a great guy and has become a good friend of mine since I have been a head coach in this league. When I was in New England, obviously he wasn't there when I was there, but they spoke so highly of him when I was there that we all knew how much respect everyone had for him. It is always good to see him down here."
McGinest played linebacker in the NFL from 1994-2008, racking up 86 sacks in that span. His favorite part of the day, though, was the trip to the tailgates.
"I would go to more training camps if they had barbecue and tailgates like that," McGinest said. "That thing was awesome."
McGinest was fondest of the "hush puppies, jambalaya, ribeye, sliders, apple cobbler and small cherry pies."
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