The games from 2017 are finished. Practices are almost five months away.
But for Bill O'Brien, the Texans are entering an incredibly important phase of the calendar year.
"Every offseason is different and every offseason is critical," the head coach said during a Tuesday press conference. "I think the time that you spend evaluating your own team, determining what your own team needs, evaluating your own coaching staff, evaluating every part of the organization every single year, you have to have kind of like that 360 degree review of the whole organization."
O'Brien and the coaches met with the players on Monday. Some players have stayed around for treatments and rehab work. But for the coaching staff, now is the time to determine what tweaks need to be made internally, and what should stay the same.
"I think that's critical every single year," O'Brien said. "I really do. I can't emphasize that enough, what is best moving forward relative to the roster, to the weight room, nutrition, the medical personnel. Everything that we do has to be reviewed and that's basically what's going on right now."
The Texans will gather together again as a team on April 16 when they begin offseason conditioning work.