The tight end room was crowded when Brevin Jordan came to the Houston Texans, but general manager Nick Caserio used a fifth-round pick on him to foment competition.
Jordan, who played college ball for the Miami Hurricanes, studied veterans Pharaoh Brown, Jordan Akins, and Antony Aulcair in front of him throughout training camp and the early part of the regular season.
“He’s actually just waited his turn, waited his turn,” coach David Culley said. “I’ll tell you what he did. The whole time in practice he practiced as if someday he was going to have that opportunity. He did a lot of stuff on our show team, did very well and as the year went on and you started to see him get a little better. You started to see him get a little more comfortable.”
Jordan found his first activation in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams, and he caught his first touchdown pass as part of a three-catch, 41-yard performance.
In the weeks since, Jordan has provided Houston with 19 catches for 169 yards and three touchdowns and earning two starts in the process.
“I heard [defensive coordinator] Lovie (Smith) talk about the experience with younger players, and players just continue to get better the more they play,” offensive coordinator Tim Kelly said. “That’s something that I think holds true on the offensive side of the ball, too. The less they’re thinking, the more natural they’re able to play and you’re able to see their natural ability show up more.”
Jordan has two games left in the regular season to show more of his natural ability and give Caserio and the scouting department reason to believe he fulfilled the mission of making the tight end room more competitive.
“Obviously, the opportunity presented itself for him to come in and play, and he’s taken advantage of that and done a really good job,” Culley said.