The Houston Texans finished up their three-day mini camp for rookies, first year players and veteran tryouts. The three days was a crash course for these players and gave them a small sample size of life in the NFL, but it was a good start for some rookies.
Day Three Notes
- The day belonged to rookie quarterback Collin Klein, who started his camp off slow. Today he stood in the pocket tall and threw the ball with confidence which included some nice deep balls. He still has some trouble putting zip on footballs in the middle of the field, but when he is on the move his accuracy gets better. Klein had some questions about him as a quarterback coming into camp, but he has progressed nicely in three days especially after a rough day two in camp. He is athletically gifted and might have done just enough to turn his tryout into a potential free agent deal for training camp.
- The tight ends had a big day catching the football. Jake Byrne, Phillip Supernaw and rookie Ryan Griffin all caught the football well. All three are headed into training camp, potentially fighting for one spot on the roster behind veterans Owen Daniels and Garrett Graham. All three will be called upon to run block when needed, and that is what will separate the three when training camp approaches.
- Of course the DeAndre Hopkins update from his mini camp go even more impressive when he hauled in the catch of the day. While running a 9 route, Case Keenum put up the ball for Hopkins to work, and he did just that. With a defender draped on him 30 yards down field, he took to a slide on his back side that resulted in a one-handed catch with his left hand. Hopkins has made these types of catches the entire mini-camp and he maybe dropped two passes. Needless to say he will help this offense from day one.
- Alan Bonner showed a portion of his game today also, when he went deep for a touchdown with a nice over the shoulder catch from the arm of Klein. Bonner has shown he can do a little of it all, but this was the first time we really got to see his speed to run past someone to make a catch. He has been a quick study when it comes to routes and learning the game.
- Rookie wide receivers Alec Lemon and Andy Cruse both have been catching machines over the stretch. Both are big targets who do everything right and impressed from the standpoint of having minimal drops.
- Brennan Williams sat out of practice after a scare from yesterday injuring his left knee. Williams observed practice today and walked around without any noticeable limp. Williams had a good start to mini-camp but the best news was his MRI coming out clean with no real serious damage to his knee. He will have a real shot to compete for the starting right tackle position when camp rolls around.
- One player who was on the 53 man roster in 2012 who has impressed is Cameron Collins (6-2 241 lbs.) an inside linebacker who put on some good football weight over the off-season. Collins played special teams last season and has a shot to take one of the open spots at inside linebacker for the upcoming season.
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