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One of the best things a rookie can do is earn credit from a veteran.
Sixth-round rookie defensive tackle Roy Lopez has caught the attention of left guard Tytus Howard. The Houston Texans’ first-round pick from 2019 goes against Lopez in practice and has seen growth from the 6-2, 318-pound defensive lineman.
“I go up against Roy a little bit,” said Howard. “Roy’s pretty good. He’s young, which is pretty good. He does well taking on double teams and stuff like that. He’s pretty stout in the run game.”
Lopez has provided Houston with 17 combined tackles, 1.0 sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, and a fumble recovery in 10 games, nine of which he has started.
“As a rookie I think he’s pretty impressive, to be honest,” Howard admitted. “There’s a lot of other stuff that you’ve got to learn as a rookie, but I think Roy is on the right path to succeed, and he’s got a lot of good older guys around him that can help him out, and that’s good for him.”
According to coach David Culley, what Lopez has done well is learn that playing along the interior defensive line at the pro level involves a lot more collision than in college.
“He’s also learning too that sometimes it gets a little rough and tough in there with those guys because usually you have two guys blocking you,” said Culley. “Normally when it’s one you’re ok but all of a sudden two guys. You have a guy blocking from the left and you think you are ok and then you have a guy from the right and another guy hit you. He’s learning now about how to be an NFL nose guard and doing a good job at it.”
Lopez has a chance to continue his development as the Texans take on the New York Jets Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at NRG Stadium.