The official Return to Relevance offseason for the Houston Texans spilled over from the first two weeks of free agency, a period where the Texans have largely received glowing grades, into the MFL Owners Meetings last week in Orlando, where several different things took place, some directly affecting the Texans and others laying the groundwork for possibly affecting them.

Let's take a quick look at four of the more noteworthy occurrences from last week's meeting that will or may impact the Texans, moving forward:

Cal McNair was approved by unanimous vote as the new principal owner of the Texans
I know some of you may be saying "What are you talking about, Sean? Cal McNair already IS the owner of the Texans!" While Cal has been acting as the day to day steward of  all aspects of the Texans, in other words acting as the OWNER, his mother Janice, the wife of the team's founder, the late Bob McNair, has been the actual owner on paper. This change does not affect anything operationally, but instead further validates Cal's role with the team, and more importantly, steadies the ship for the next generation of Texans football. If I had to guess, the now dismissed lawsuit by Cal's brother, Cary, from late last year, when Cary attempted to impose guardianship over their 87-year-old mother may have hastened this process.

Continuing the legacy for H-Town 🤘 pic.twitter.com/sG4EUNCRJV

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) March 26, 2024

We had to drop a Cal highlight 🤝 pic.twitter.com/xk656lPIEo

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) March 27, 2024

The Texans will be playing in the Hall of Fame Game
We know that Andre Johnson is heading into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer. He will be the first TRUE Houston Texan inducted in the team's history. (Sorry, Ed Reed, you're not Texans worthy!) This is significant, and as is normally the tradition, the Hall of Fame foot game, the first preseason game of the year, will include two teams whose Hall of Fame induction storylines that weekend matter. So it will be the Texans taking on the Chicago Bears, who have two career bears (Devin Hester, Steve McMichael) and one part time Bear (Julius Peppers) going into the hall.

We’re headed to Canton ✈️ pic.twitter.com/P24FSYx6ys

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) March 26, 2024

We have some brand new kickoff rules
While the rule banning the "swivel hip drop" tackle got the most attention this past week, largely because it was opposed by the players' union, the new kickoff rules might be the most radical rule the NFL has implemented this century. Since kickoffs under the old rules have largely turned into kickers booming the ball out the back of the end neon (resulting in a boring touchback), the league has workshopped all sorts of ways to make the kickoff relevant and exciting again. Rather than give a long written explanation of the new rule, I'll let the video below do the talking. Color me intrigued!

Interesting rule change to NFL kickoffs. Will look similar to this XFL kickoff. But also comes with big change to onside kicks.

“The team trailing has the opportunity to declare an onside kick to the officials”

So no surprise onside kicks and it can only be done in the 4th qt. pic.twitter.com/UeGhTkOBCN

— Shayne Wright (@swrightwpbf) March 26, 2024

There will be two Christmas Day games!
I know some of you may be like "Whoa, big deal, Sean! Last year there were THREE Christmas Day games!", to which I would say "True, condescending reader, BUT last year Christmas fell on a Monday, a traditional NFL day on the calendar." This season, it falls on a Wednesday, which is anything but traditional. I can't wait to see how they work the schedule on this one. There is no way the teams playing in those Christmas Day games play on the previous SUNDAY, right? Players already complain about the quick turnaround for THURSDAY games following a Sunday. I'm including this in a "Texans" article only because I think the Texans are going to be prime candidates for some of these "schedule quirk" games, like Thanksgiving in Dallas, or in London against he Vikings or Jags. So why not Christmas Day?

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