The Houston Texans have started working Deshaun Watson with the 1s during practice time but Tom Savage is still the odds on favorite to start the upcoming season. According to Bill O’Brien, practice reps of position groups sometimes puts different players with each other and in this case, Watson’s reps overlapped with the 1st team offense.
“We roll those guys in. Those guys – Tom (Savage) plays obviously with the ones and then Deshaun (Watson), sometimes because of the reps,” O’Brien said of Watson getting work with part of the 1st team offense.
“If we’re in a 12-play period, sometimes we rep the offensive line a little bit differently than we rep the quarterbacks, so they end up being with the first team,” O”Brien continued. “Deshaun ends up being with the first team, which is good. The basic goal is to make sure that he continues to get reps.”
The work Watson has put in since he arrived to Houston has been lauded by coaches and teammates alike and he continues to work alongside Savage and Brandon Weeden to better understand the offense. O’Brien likes Watson’s reps on the field and more importantly, that he rarely makes the same mistake twice.
“I think the more reps he’s had, the more meetings from OTAs to where he is now – he’s a smart kid,” O’Brien explained of Watson’s improvements. “He works very hard. He learns, like I said, from the mistakes and he tries not to repeat those mistakes. He sees a lot from our defense, so I’m sure he tries to keep that in his memory bank for when it happens again. It’s the same thing for any rookie, but I just think that he’s doing a good job mentally as a rookie, no doubt.”
More Texans Notes
The work Deshaun Watson is getting with the “1st team” offensive line is much like the work he had in the preseason opener for one series. Watson worked with an experienced group in his first series of the preseason with Kendall Lamm and Breno Giacomini at the offensive tackles, and Nick Martin, Jeff Allen, and Xavier Su’a-Filo on the interior, which is comparable to what occurs in practice settings.
The Houston Texans are being cautious with DeAndre Hopkins and now have him on a “pitch count” leading up to the start of the season. With the injuries that have hit the wide receiver group, the Texans have to protect their top target moving further into the preseason.
To that end, the Texans are putting Bruce Ellington on a crash course in the offense and will push him to get reps in the joint practices with the New England Patriots and in the remaining preseason games. Ellington has been on the team’s radar for some time dating back to joint practices with the San Francisco 49ers in 2014 when he shredded the Texans up in those practices.
Texans waived-injured wide receiver DeAndrew White, who was placed on the injured reserve with a groin injury. White had three strong days of camp and clearly looked like he belonged on the field. White was injured on the last play of practice of that third day of work and it was clear it was a serious injury with the way the medical staff responded to the situation.