Houston Texans running back Phillip Lindsay has only been with the club since March, but he is getting defensive about the team’s perception in the media.
The Texans have had an offseason replete with drama surrounding quarterback Deshaun Watson, which undoubtedly will impact the position in 2021. Houston has also gone through a shadow of questions surrounding their roster given the way they have signed hordes of veteran free agents to one-year and two-year deals. And then there is the draft where the Texans didn’t make their first selection until Round 3, and their draft class size was a paltry five men.
The Texans are also routinely bottom-3 in various NFL power rankings.
Lindsay doesn’t see the connection when taking the work of the locker room into account.
“You got a bunch of us,” Lindsay said. “Like, think about it. Everybody come in here and they think we’re the scum bucket — I don’t know what they got going on in the media. But everybody has something to prove because there’s some great dudes in there, and also they’re really talented. They played a lot of football, and we just want to get on the same page and we’re going to do that over time. And we’re going to do that win some games. That’s our goal.”
#Texans RB Phillip Lindsay (@I_CU_boy on many Texans having a chip on their shoulders: “U got a bunch of us..& for some reason they think we’re the scumbucket.I don’t know what they got going on in the media. Everybody has something to prove. There’s some great dudes..& talented” pic.twitter.com/uEiKEvEsrN
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) July 29, 2021
General manager Nick Caserio emphasized in his opening press conference on July 28 that the roster will have tons of competition given the turnover of players in the offseason.
“We have 50 new players again, it’s an great opportunity for everybody to get started,” said Caserio. “The goal for training camp is for everybody to establish a level of performance. We’re not going to predetermine everything. Nobody has a defined role. We’re going to go out there and let the players kind of take care of themselves, and that will sort itself out.
“I’d say we probably have about 79 players that will be kind of working and then we had some other players in different categories relative to whatever their health status is.”
Lindsay and the Texans are confident they can prove to the sports world they truly aren’t the “scum bucket,” although the two-time Pro Bowler may have coined an official nickname for the 20th iteration in franchise history.