Houston Texans news: Deshaun Watson and more pre-training camp thoughts

Houston Texans: A fresh start for the ’20 rookies

Last season, the rookies of the Houston Texans didn’t get a fair opportunity or basically any opportunity at all to have success at a solid level when Bill O’Brien was in charge during the ’20 season.

Ross Blacklock was a second-round pick who wasn’t prepared enough when the season began. The rest of the class included Jonathan Greenard, Charlie Heck, John Reid and Isaiah Coulter, and they also didn’t have much success as rookies, either.

Blacklock and Greenard should be used more this season as it will be their first year in a full training camp, and with the changes made to the defense, they will be needed in this current rebuild.

Charlie Heck will have to battle for a spot on the offensive line, and probably his best bet to win a spot is in the interior line because it will be tough to take away the starting role of right tackle Tytus Howard.

John Reid can be a big addition for the Texans in ’21 if he earns a larger role. The cornerback allowed eight receptions on 10 targets last season, and as a rookie had a PFF grade of 53.9. The fourth-round pick also had one pass defensed in ’20, but he also didn’t play a full schedule of games either. When he did play, his playing time amounted to 13 percent of the defensive plays last season (145), though he made one start in Week 15.

We can’t forget about Isaiah Coulter and the unknown that exists with this former fifth-round choice.

Coulter was only active for one game, against the Chicago Bears, and he didn’t gain any stats in the contest, so there is so much to see from Coulter. Hopefully he gets opportunities in the preseason games to show what he can do, and this training camp will be very important to the former Rhode Island wide receiver.

Coulter could be a diamond in the rough for the Houston Texans, and if he is, what a welcome surprise that would be.