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HOUSTON -- Coach DeMeco Ryans made it clear he isn't paying attention to the hype the Houston Texans are receiving.

"We don't care about expectations," Ryans said Monday. "Talk doesn't win games. We have to go out and play good football when the time comes."

The Texans spent $178.5 million this offseason in guaranteed money, according to Roster Management System, the fourth most in the NFL.

That includes a reworked contract for newly acquired All-Pro wide receiver Stefon Diggs. The Texans sent a 2025 second-round pick (via the Minnesota Vikings) to the Buffalo Bills for Diggs and voided the final three years of his deal before increasing his base salary to $22.52 million guaranteed. He's now set to become a free agent in 2025.

"The guy's been an All-Pro player, been a Pro Bowl player, over 1,000 yards for multiple seasons," Ryans said. "So, we're excited about adding Diggs to our team."

The Diggs trade capped the Texans' aggressive spending on both sides of the ball. They signed defensive end Danielle Hunter, coming off a career-high 16.5 sacks, to a two-year, $49 million deal. They added former Tennessee Titans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, coming off a career-high 163 tackles, to a three-year, $34 million contract. They traded for former Bengals running back Joe Mixon before giving the 2021 Pro Bowler a three-year, $27 million contract extension.

Those expensive offseason moves have generated buzz for the Texans, but Ryans won't let the team change its approach.

"We're always hunting. That doesn't change for us," Ryans said. "Expectations on the outside, whatever that may be, it doesn't change who we are. The expectation from the outside doesn't permeate inside our building."

The Texans spent to build on Ryans and quarterback C.J. Stroud's initial season, when they won the AFC South and a playoff game for the first time since 2019.

Stroud was vital for the team's success as he earned Offensive Rookie of the Year and was a Pro Bowler. He led the NFL in passing yards per game (274) and became the first rookie to rank first in touchdown-interception ratio (23-5) since the merger.

"I'm very excited," Stroud said. "I think we have a lot of potential, have a ton of guys who have played a lot of meaningful ball. A lot of guys who can do different things with the ball. With all the expectation, the outside noise, the time now is to focus. Right now it's time to build the foundation and build the chemistry."

Stroud's new receiving trio features Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Diggs. In the 2023 season, Collins ranked eighth in receiving yards (1,297) and had eight touchdowns. Dell was on pace for 1,205 receiving yards before suffering a season-ending leg injury in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos in Week 13. Dell finished with the 709 yards.

Ryans provided an update on Dell's recovery and said he is participating in Phase One of the Texans' offseason program.

"I'm excited to have Tank back," Ryans said. "That was a devastating loss for us last year, losing him. He's such a dynamic player for us, such an inspiration for myself, a lot of our team. So, I'm excited to see Tank back working with our guys, and excited to see him make that same jump I talked about from year one to year two.

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HOUSTON -- Astros ace Justin Verlander will throw a side session Tuesday, and if that goes well he'll make his season debut this weekend against the Washington Nationals.

Houston manager Joe Espada made the announcement Monday but wouldn't say which game of the series Verlander would start. The three-game set begins Friday night.

"He's in a good spot," Espada said. "He feels good. He feels confident. He wants to contribute. He knows that we need him on the mound, we need his presence and right now and he's right where he needs to be."

The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder. He made two rehabilitation starts, the first for Triple-A Sugar Land on April 7 before Saturday's start for Double-A Corpus Christi.

Verlander spoke to reporters before Espada announced his plans for the 41-year-old, who deferred to the manager on questions regarding his return. But he did discuss his health.

"Pitch count-wise, I think it's pretty close, and health-wise I bounced back all the ways I would like to have seen," he said. "Like we had talked about earlier kind of at length, some of the things that have been difficult for me to do are becoming easier and easier.

"So I feel like I've kind of checked all the boxes that need to be checked," he continued. "And I do feel like I'm ready to step on the mound again, whether that's for us or somebody else. So that's again, their decision."

Verlander wasn't thrilled with the results in his rehabilitation starts, but he said those games were valuable in getting him prepared to come off the IL.

He allowed seven hits and six runs -- five earned -- in four innings against Frisco Saturday. He struck out three, walked one and threw 51 of 77 pitches for strikes.

Verlander allowed six earned runs and struck out six while pitching into the fourth inning for Sugar Land.

"You're not quite in season form," he said. "The only way to practice pitching at full speed is to actually go out there and do it. As much as I would like to, I can't practice full speed in the bullpen. It's just not possible. So you really hope that your body starts to sync things up when you're out there in a game and you learn from each time you're out there, and I think I'm doing just that."

Getting ready for Pro Bowl Games practice back in February, Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was excited about the franchise building on its surprising 2023 success with its returning talent and some hopeful additions.

The savvy signal-caller wasn't about to opine just who or what areas of need should be addressed, but it turns out he had already gotten to meet a future teammate, new Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

Unsurprisingly, Stroud is plenty thrilled to have Diggs added to Houston's WR room.

"I was very excited," Stroud told reporters Monday, via team transcript, about acquiring Diggs, a former Buffalo Bill and Minnesota Viking. "I met him at the Pro Bowl – got to meet each other, got to meet his kids and to see what type of person he was. Just been able to grow our relationship from there. It's really cool just to be able to go from not only that scene to now – him being a teammate of mine. Just really excited to get to work with him."

Stroud, the reigning AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Diggs were AFC Pro Bowl Games teammates and are now united in the Texans' attempt to repeat as AFC South champions.

For Texans fans, seeing Diggs added to a wide receiver corps that already boasts Nico Collins, a returning Tank Dell and John Metchie III, it's a dream-like scenario. For Stroud, the Diggs trade – or at least news of it – came together while he was sleeping. He awoke to some franchise-altering news.

"I was actually asleep," Stroud said. "I was asleep – I've been on the West Coast. I've been back home in L.A., so I was knocked out. I keep my phone on 'Do Not Disturb.' I get a lot of phone calls. So, I didn't really know. I woke up and my boy Chase B texted me and he's like, 'How are you feeling, bro?' And I'm thinking he's like asking me and I'm like 'I'm good, fam. How are you?' I had sent like five texts like that and then I woke up for real this time. I was kind of like halfway texting in the bed. Woke up, brushed my teeth, washed my face and then I saw the news. I saw it on Instagram and I'm like, 'Oh, shoot. That's what they're talking about.'"

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Stroud and Co. no doubt hope to have plenty of people talking about the Texans again next season.

Seventh in the NFL in passing yards for 2023, the Texans are welcoming back offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. Stroud, who threw for 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns in 15 games, led Collins to a career season with 80 receptions for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns. Dell also shined in 11 games before he was lost to a broken fibula, turning in 47 grabs for 709 yards and seven TDs.

"Tank is back and he's starting to get in with our guys here with the offseason programs," Stroud said. "So, I'm excited to have Tank back. That was a devastating loss for us last year, losing him. He's such a dynamic player for us, such an inspiration for myself, a lot of our team. So, I'm excited to see Tank back working with our guys."

Though he played in 16 games a season ago, Metchie should be a full-go for the first time, having lost all of 2022 after a leukemia diagnosis.

"I think last year was good to get his feet back in the water coming off of an injury then something so traumatic like being sick how he was," Stroud said. "His mindset is that he's just ready to come back and ball. Not only is he a great football player, but he's a great person and I wouldn't want anybody else other than those guys in that room. Metchie is looking amazing. Everything that he will put on this field will be no surprise, but I think everybody in this room knows how special he can be, and he'll put that on the field."

And, of course, now a four-time Pro Bowler is in the building. Though Diggs had a somewhat sub-par showing in 2023 by his standards, it was still his sixth straight 1,000-yard campaign and his fourth year in a row with 100-plus catches (fifth overall).

"He adds a ton of value to that room," Stroud said. "There's a lot of wisdom that he carries that I think he'll spread to the other guys. He's been reaching out to really everybody and I think that whole room in general is going to be great. I think we're all going to feed off of each other. It's going to be very fun and very exciting just to work with everybody in that room and I'm very excited for it."

Stroud was excited for the future back in February during his time in Orlando, Florida.

Since then, Stroud woke up to the addition of a Pro Bowl wide receiver, is excited about the prospects of two more WRs returning to form and all the more confident in what lies ahead for Houston.

"I think we have a lot of potential," he said. "A ton of guys who have played a lot of meaningful ball. A lot of guys who can do different things with the ball, which is amazing. With all of those expectations, all the outside noise – right now is the time to focus."

On Sunday afternoon, Houstonians lined up at an empty parking lot at the corner of Almeda and Rosedale across the street from Turkey Leg Hut for chargrilled oysters.

Plump, palm-sized Gulf coast oysters hissed on a charcoal grill. A man squirted on “Tiger’s Special Sauce” on top of the bivalves, some dotted with bits of bacon and a shower of Parmesan cheese. Among the five items on the menu, a popular order was the Tiger Special, which includes a topping of crab meat and crawfish tails.

Unlike every other weekend for the past month, Royal Bellock — the 38-year-old New Orleans man known as Tiger of Tiger2Dozen — was missing.

In the latest controversy surrounding Turkey Leg Hut and its co-founder Lyndell “Lynn” Price, Bellock and his fiance Jackquel Johnson said they are no longer part of the oyster pop-up operating across the street from the Third Ward restaurant. They allege Price, who invited them to bring their Tiger2Dozen to Houston last month, copied their menu and recipes in recently launching the Oyster Hut and still owes them nearly $3,000.

“This was Tiger’s thing. He was excited to be in Houston,” Johnson said. “But we learned Lynn will kick you to the curb and steal your stuff.”

TURKEY LEG HUT HISTORY: 5 things to know about popular Third Ward restaurant Turkey Leg Hut

Price, who is estranged from his wife and Turkey Leg Hut co-founder Nakia Holmes, met Bellock in New Orleans during a second line parade. They bonded over a love for cars and within weeks, Tiger2Dozen opened as a no-frills pop-up with a single grill and Turkey Leg Hut-branded tent.

On social media, Price promoted the pop-up to his more than 220,000 Instagram followers as a chance for Houstontonians to experience a “taste of New Orleans.”

The pop-up’s first weekend was a success when Bellock went through nearly 1,200 oysters. Customers lined up and waited upwards of three hours for an order before the food sold out.

There was no set plan for Tiger2Dozen’s pop-up to return but the success led to an informal, gentlemen’s agreement between Bellock and Price to host more pop-ups and split profits, Johnson said.

Business kept building, Johnson said, and Bellock would haul about 75 bushels of oysters from New Orleans versus a dozen that first weekend.

By mid-March, Price had launched an Instagram account and branded the pop-up as the Oyster Hut, which currently has about 41,000 followers.

Over one long weekend, the Oyster Hut brought in nearly $20,000 in sales, Johnson added.

Bellock kept working even as Price stopped tagging Tiger2Dozen in social media posts and seemingly distancing himself from the New Orleans crew.

A few weeks ago, Bellock wanted to formalize an agreement with Price. The relationship between the two started falling apart when Tiger2Dozen didn’t want to work with Price’s lawyer to hammer out a business arrangement, Johnson said.

“He kept telling us, ‘People don’t know y’all. They know Lynn',” Johnson said. “That’s fine but at the end of the day, it was supposed to be a 50-50 split.”

She added that Price, who would post on social media clips of himself washing tables or shucking oysters, actually rarely worked and kept asking Bellock to put in longer hours despite him feeling burnt out.

Price then failed to pay his half to an oyster supplier in addition to employees, Johnson said.

“It felt like he wanted to do his own thing all along, but he’s not the true man behind the oysters,” Johnson continued. “Lynn is going to kick you to the curb,” Johnson added.

Price has not responded to requests for comment.

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It was business as usual for customers lining up to order oysters on Sunday. About a half dozen people put in orders for oysters and a new addition of funnel cakes at the Oyster Hut, but most did not know about the behind-the-scenes fallout.

“I just know there’s a line for oysters and it’s all over the place,” said Darius Miller, who has been following Price’s social media account. “I wanted to try it for myself.”

Andrea Hughes said that she was more interested in sampling the oysters than spending money on brunch at Turkey Leg Hut.

“There’s a lot of hype for sure,” Hughes said. “I don't know if it's worth waiting this long, though.”

When Tiger2Dozen serves its oysters, they have to clean the oyster shells before carefully shucking them. The big oysters take longer to cook and the special Tiger sauce is a secret blend that includes margarine with a mint-garlic mixture.

“It’s not a fast food restaurant,” Johnson said.

Tiger2Dozen took a break this weekend, but they may come back to Houston.

Meanwhile, Oyster Hut advertises it is open noon to 11 p.m. but the days are not specified. It's not clear whether Price is still involved in Turkey Leg Hut despite reports of him being fired earlier this year. Most recently, Holmes filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“I’ll continue to support and push Tiger because I know his oysters are great,” Johnson said. “He has perfected cooking those oysters in such a way that Lynn would never understand. Only thing I appreciate Lynn for at this moment is giving me the game. Now it’s go time, may the best oyster cooker win.”

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Monday called out the county's methods of awarding millions of dollars in contracts to companies building infrastructure like roads and parks, arguing that the county spends local tax dollars with far less transparency than when it is working with federal money.

Hidalgo cited a recent report prepared by Harris County Auditor Michael Post's office that found the county doesn't produce a rigorous paper trail when choosing the winners of contracts. The engineering department, which oversees major infrastructure projects along with commissioners' offices, did not have consistent records available until as recently as July 2023.

Now, Hidalgo is calling on her four colleagues on Harris County Commissioners Court to give up their control of these decisions and hand over the reins to the county's independent purchasing department.

"I'm not trying to point the finger with what I'm going to present," Hidalgo said at a news conference Monday. "But I am trying to say if you don't change this, and change it promptly, then you are part of the problem."

NEW REPORT: Harris County must keep a better paper trail when awarding infrastructure contracts, auditor says

Hidalgo said she will present her proposal at the upcoming April 23 meeting of Commissioners Court.

Currently, companies are chosen by engineering department staff, as well as staff from the four commissioner's offices. There were no conflict of interest certifications on file for those employees and no written policies requiring staff to document their conflicts, according to the audit.

The auditor report also surveyed that Harris County was the only county that procures professional services — such as engineering — independent of the purchasing office.

Hidalgo has made repeated attempts to broach the topics of improving public trust and streamlining county services, even if that has sometimes meant going it alone.

She has consistently refused contributions from county vendors since she ran for her first term in office in 2018, unlike her colleagues on court.

At the March 26 meeting of Commissioners Court, Hidalgo argued the county's efforts to improve efficiency have a tendency to get left on the shelf when studies are completed but the results aren't released.

She requested a discussion of a two-year-old study that looked at how the county could centralize management of infrastructure such as parks, roads and bridges. Under the current system, the county is divided up into four precincts, each one run by a commissioner who has control of much of that infrastructure.

"Fundamentally, this is about looking at efficiencies of how Harris County might benefit," Hidalgo said at the meeting. "And, of course, if we're resistant to that, there's something wrong."

Her measure to discuss the study's findings was defeated after receiving tepid support from Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis and opposition from the other three members.

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Hidalgo was alone at Monday's press conference, making her case with a marker and a white board about the steps in the paper trail that are often missing when the county awards contracts, such as conflict of interest forms, a selection committee and an evaluation process with scoring.

"They found no evidence of any of these," Hidalgo said of the recent report from county auditors. "There is no information on how the particular vendors were selected. Nothing written down."

The result, Hidalgo said, is that the county has a far less rigorous and less transparent process when it is spending local dollars than when it is spending federal tax dollars that are subject to stricter rules.

"That (flood) bond we all voted for in 2018, those dollars are going through this flawed process," Hidalgo said.

Assuming Hidalgo can win support from her colleagues, her plan would move contract decisions to the county's purchasing department as early as May 7.

Asked whether the changes could slow down work, Hidalgo said, "Might there be delays? Possibly. Hopefully there won't be."