The Alabama State tackle played quarterback in high school and has played tackle for a few years
Texans get their tackle at 23 selecting Tytus Howard
Apr 25, 2019, 10:32 pm
Credit to Alabama State Football Twitter
The draft board started to set up perfect for the Texans. With just one tackle going in the top 20 picks Washington State's Andre Dillard, Oklahoma's Cody Ford, and Florida's Jawaan Taylor all remained on the board. Three of most draft experts top four tackles. Moments later the Eagles had traded up and were on the clock.
There went Dillard. One pick before the Texans were set to select. Then they were on the clock. Now they trusted their board.
Roger Goodell walked to the podium and announced the Texans had selected Alabama State tackle Tytus Howard.
"It's just an unbelievable feeling right now," Howard said after he was picked. "I'm just blessed to be a part of the Houston Texans."
Howard said he had a good feeling about being a member of the Texans when he had his visit with the team.
"They decided to draft me and I promise you they didn't make a mistake. I'm going to give them everything I have."
Texans general manager Brian Gaine knows there's a fit for his new lineman.
"We see Tytus Howard as an offensive lineman," he said. "We'll start the best five, however it works out. He'll have a chance to compete for a starting job, come in and earn what he gets, but the fact of the matter is, is Tytus has been a starting-caliber player at right tackle and left tackle."
Gaine mentioned Howard "checked all the boxes" and said he is the type of player that matches their physical as well as intagible profile.
As for where he played, Gaine doesn't mind Howard's track record against non-Power 5 schools.
"I know the competition in terms of comparably speaking to a power-five conference, he's not coming from a power-five conference, but I'm not concerned about that at all."
Howard was a high school quarterback. He then started a transition to tight end before ultimately ending up as the right tackle for Alabama State. He credits his coaches and the strength staff for staying on him. He also said his fiance was instrumental in getting him to eat enough.
"My favorite would be her chicken spaghetti," Howard said with a chuckle. "I would eat that back to back nights. I would eat that whole pan."
Howard said his time as a quarterback helps him at the tackle spot.
"I know how being sacked feels," he said. "So I try my best not to give up any sacks so I try to play as long as I can to keep guys from hitting the quarterback."
Speaking of keeping the quarterback clean, Howard knows all about how important Deshaun Watson is to the Texans.
Howard said he thinks Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and he said his athleticism will help him work longer to keep Watson clean.
As for Howard, he has a clear mentality to take to the NFL.
"There was a saying that one of my offensive line coaches used to say, his mentality is you put him in a cage with a gorilla, you better pray for the gorilla, not him because he's going to be all right. That's just how I feel. You just put me in a cage with anybody and I feel like I'm going to come out. That's my mentality going in."
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How Astros advanced metrics tell puzzling story about Houston's start
Apr 17, 2025, 5:21 pm
Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. In the batter’s box he has often looked befuddled. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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