The Houston Texans’ roster has had its chance to showcase to the rest of the NFL that there is some budding talent.
According to Doug Farrar from the Touchdown Wire, the Texans had two defensive players who landed on their “secret superstars” for the third week of the preseason.
Defensive end Derek Rivers made the list. Unfortunately, Rivers may be lost for the season as he has a torn biceps, anything but a fitting conclusion to his productive exhibition campaign.
Pitre, a second-rounder from Baylor, caught Farrar’s attention.
Pitre has more than earned Smith’s confidence. Opposing quarterbacks tested Pitre with three targets this preseason, and he didn’t allow a single completion. Smith has to love how aggressive and accurate Pitre is as a run defender…
Get you a safety that defends the run from a deep alignment like Jalen Pitre (5) does.
His 5 tackles last night was second on the #Texans defense pic.twitter.com/3HcWHGnN4V
— Jordan Pun (@Texans_Thoughts) August 26, 2022
Smith also had to like this play, where Pitre (No. 5) locked George Kittle up from the line of scrimmage, preventing Trey Lance from going to the easy outlet, and allowing cornerback Steven Nelson to break up the deep pass.
“What we notice, is when you’re making a whole lot of big flash plays,” Smith said after the 49ers game. “Jalen has been consistent throughout. He’s a smart player. He’s been like a sponge as far as learning. But he’s going to be around the ball. That’s what we’ve seen since OTAs. I’m excited about going forward with him and him lining up for us when Indy comes into town.”
And there you have it.
The Texans will be able to take on of their dynamic defenders from the preseason into the regular season as Pitre will make his debut against the Indianapolis Colts on Sept. 11 at NRG Stadium. With Houston having a defensive back who can play various roles in coach Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 scheme, it should give the Texans an impactful defense to strike fear in opposing offenses.
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