Jalen Camp: Can he break onto the Texans roster in 2022?

Houston Texans wide receiver Jalen Camp is opening some eyes during training camp and the preseason game.

Houston Texans wide receiver Jalen Camp opened some eyes with his performance in the Texans’ first preseason game this past Saturday against the New Orleans Saints. As impressive as his two catches may have been, fans need to remember, sometimes young players surprise, and sometimes they deceive.

Jalen Camp, a sixth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 has been fairly impressive thus far in Texans training camp. After being waived before the start of the ’21 season and coming to the Texans midway through that same season, Camp was given a few reps and played well enough to stay on the roster for the last three games.

Now he has a chance to make the 53-man out of camp. With teams commonly only keeping six receivers, this will not be an easy task. Fans get far too wrapped up in a couple of catches and forget that there are position battles going on for fringe players.

Texans wide receiver group is very interesting

The projected wide receiver group has Brandin Cooks, Nico Collins, Chris Conley, Chris Moore, Phillip Dorsett and Chester Rogers penciled in. Where does Camp fit? Who does he replace?

We have all seen players become training camp All Pros, but a team like the Texans can’t afford to make too many mistakes when making the 53-man roster for ’22.

When a wide receiver who is 6’2″ and 220 pounds with apparent good hands and competent route-running skills come your way, you give him every chance to make it, but two questions remain, and those are: Where does he fit in, and and who gets cut?

Here’s the easy answer, Houston can — and should — look at the number four, five and six receivers, and choose the best special team players. Most of the time those players only see the field when there is an injury, so they need to be solid special team players, and this is where size is a plus.

Now, the harder answer, and that is Camp opens the season on the practice squad. It’s not easy to unseat veteran players. You have to be significantly better, because they already understand the speed and riggers of the NFL. Young players have to earn the chance to learn.

Fans love the training camp stars, and right now fans love Camp. He made a couple plays, so he simply MUST make the team, but that’s just not reality.

Camp’s 49-yard catch was impressive, but was it Camp’s talent on display, or was it badly blown coverage by a player who might not even be in the NFL next week?

Let’s be realistic, it was terrible coverage that Camp benefited from. This should not make or break him.

Will Camp make the Texans? With all due respect, it’s doubtful. There are just too many solid wide receivers on this team. Will Camp ultimately break through and become a productive wide receiver for the Texans, but join the practice squad first? We shall see.