For the first time in over a week, the Houston Texans welcomed fans back out to the Methodist Training Center for the 20th practice of the 2024 training camp. The Los Angeles Rams get into town Wednesday night, and will conduct a combined practice with the Texans on Thursday morning, before the two teams close out the preseason game schedule with a Saturday noon kickoff.
The Texans got a few guys back and healthy at practice on Wednesday, most notably backup quarterback Davis Mills, whose absence from practice last week led to all sorts of speculation that he was being held out of practice because he was possibly getting traded to Minnesota.
As it turns out, Mills’ was dealing with a rib injury suffered in the win over Pittsburgh back on August 9, and Nick Caserio was as clear as could be during the Texans’ pregame show on Saturday before the win over the Giants at home — Davis Mills is this team’s backup quarterback, and he isn’t going anywhere. The battle in the QB room is for third string between Houston favorite Case Keenum and Tim Boyle.
Here are a few other notes, opinions, and observations from today’s session:
Injury report — who is in jeopardy?
While Mills did return, several other players remained on the sidelines, either working out on the side field or (presumably) getting treatment across the street at the stadium. Here is the list, courtesy of Aaron Wilson of KPRC Channel 2:
Normally, I wouldn’t do a deep dive on a training camp injury report, except we are less than a week away from the roster getting cut down to 53 players, and if you’re going to play this season, you need to be on the roster on cutdown day. Of the players listed above, the only ones guaranteed a spot on the team right now are LB Christian Harris and DE Will Anderson. Every other player on that list is burning daylight watching practice while nursing their respective ailments. If you’re trying to construct a mock 53 man roster, use the injury report as part of your roadmap.
Dameon Pierce conundrum this weekend
We’ve spent thousands and thousands of words in this space, discussing Pierce and his spot on this team. These are the things that we know to be true —
1. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in the building loves Dameon Pierce.
2. Dameon Pierce has not been productive since the middle of his rookie season in 2022. In 2023, he looked lost in BobbY Slowik’s system.
3. Despite the lack of productivity, Pierce has been treated, both in praise and actual handling, this preseason like a guy whose spot is secure on this team.
In short, it shouldn’t be. This should be fascinating to see how Pierce gets handled in Saturday’s final preseason game. The way he’s been treated in camp, he should be sitting alongside the other “made” guys on this team, whose spots are secure. His level of play, though, dictates he should be playing at least half the game, and should have to play well to earn a spot on the team. I still think that ultimately Pierce plays on Saturday, and gets traded before cutdowns on Tuesday.
Practice notes and observations
* John Metchie is starting to stack positive days again. He followed up on his stealer performance Saturday (6 catches, 68 yards, 1 touchdown) with a good practice on Wdndeday, highlighted by a touchdown catch on a deep ball from Davis Mills.
* Not to be outdone, second year wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson had maybe the catch of camps of far, with a sliding, one handed grab of a Mills deep ball that brought the crowd to its feet. Hutchinson is in a dog fight for one fo the final receiver spots on this roster.
* RB Joe Mixon got full reps in 11-on-11, which hasn’t been the case for much of camp. Even in the few practices for which Mixon has dressed, he’s been largely held out of team drills. this is a good sign for a ramp up to Week 1 in Indianapolis.
* Because of my radio schedule, I missed the first half of today’s practice (which admittedly is mostly drills that don’t really matter), but saw about 80 percent of the 11-on-11 stuff, which is what factors in the most to evaluation on players. I recommend Cody Stoots and John Harris for guys who were able to observe every play of practice.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
