The Houston Texans signed undrafted rookie free agent Damarea Crockett at running back, but what will he have to do to make the roster for the 2019 season?
The depth chart of the Houston Texans running backs is full of mystery and unproven players, but that is a good thing for them because the competition should be high. Besides Lamar Miller and D’Onta Foreman, the rest of the spots for running back should be up for grabs when training camp arrives.
Those players battling for those positions on the roster are rookies Cullen Gillaspia, Damarea Crockett and Karan Higdon, plus veterans like Taiwan Jones, Buddy Howell and Josh Ferguson.
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The player who could surprise many on that list is Crockett as the undrafted rookie free agent from the University of Missouri, who during his collegiate career put up positive numbers.
Crockett finished his career with 380 rushing attempts in three seasons for 2,252 yards and 19 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 21 passes in his career for 137 yards and two touchdowns, playing in a total of 401 plays. Crockett averaged six yards per play from the line of scrimmage for his career.
In his final season at Missouri, Crockett rushed the football 147 times for 709 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior. His freshman season was his best on the stat sheet as he had 153 yards rushing for 1,062 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Now how does Crockett make the Texans running back roster with all of the above talented players battling for the same spots? It is going to take more than just hard work on the field, but he’s going to have to have a near perfect or even perfect training camp, if there is such a thing in the NFL.
Crockett will not only have to prove himself as a running back, but most likely he’s going to need to provide to the special teams in some way, and even on the offensive side of the ball, Crockett will need to be able to rush the football, block for the quarterback and be able to catch passes out of the back field and gain positive yardage too.
Yes, all running backs should be able to do that, but he’s going to have to do so at his highest level possible, because making the Texans running back depth chart on the 53-man roster isn’t an easy task, but it should be a competitive training camp, to say the least.
Listed next are three ways for Crockett to make the Texans roster this upcoming season out of training camp.