Houston Texans receiver Keke Coutee has had to endure many battles to finding playing time for the club that drafted him in the fourth round in 2018.
One of Coutee’s biggest challengers was receiver DeAndre Carter, who took the returner job and also cut into Coutee’s snaps as a receiver. 2020 wasn’t going well for Coutee either, and it looked like he would not see any significant playing time after Week 2 when his fumble led to a touchown for the Baltimore Ravens.
When slot receiver Randall Cobb left Sunday’s 27-20 win over the New England Patriots at NRG Stadium, interim coach Romeo Crennel knew Coutee was going to make the most of his opportunity spelling the former 2014 Pro Bowler.
“I told him on the sideline, I said, ‘this is one of the reasons that you’re here is to take advantage of this opportunity,'” Crennel said. “He went into the game and he did that. That’s what pros do.”
Coutee responded with a 6-yard touchdown catch, his first since Week 5 of his rookie year, to put the Texans ahead 21-10 late in the second quarter.
“Now, sometimes extremely young players, they don’t understand that,” Crennel said. “But with Keke, he knew that he was going to get an opportunity at some point, and he got it and he took advantage of it. I think that now he’ll try to hold on to it.”
Coutee will possibly fill in for Cobb again against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. Cobb was listed as a non-participant in Monday’s practice, although the injury report was based on an estimation of participation as the event was a walkthrough only.