STOOTS ON TEXANS
Houston Texans training camp: 11 observations you need to know about from Day 5
Aug 3, 2022, 1:28 pm
Brandin Cooks looks unstoppable.Composite image by Jack Brame.
Houston Texans sign top receiver to contract extension
The Houston Texans had a competitive practice that saw Davis Mills make some mistakes and immediately bounce back. Here are 11 observations.
1. Brandin Cooks can’t be covered. He only lost one rep today, his first one, and then he dominated the rest of the day. I don’t want to exaggerate when I say he had close to 10 touchdowns today. Cooks hauled in one play at the front of the end zone where Steven Nelson was all over him. As the two went to the ground, Cooks hauled in a catch and kept control for a score. Nobody can cover Cooks at Texans camp. Draft him on your fantasy team.
2. Davis Mills doesn’t rely solely on Cooks though. He spreads the ball around. Multiple players had nice catches from Mills today, including the tight ends and wideouts down the depth charts.
3. Davis Mills finally threw an interception. Two actually. Neither felt like his fault, but he threw them. He’s the quarterback. The first was a GREAT play by the defensive back. The second was a risky pass that was tipped by one linebacker and ended up in Blake Cashman’s hands.
4. There wasn’t much worse from Mills other than those two interceptions. He’s been praised for his poise and ability to bounce back and sure enough, he found the end zone plenty after those interceptions.
5. Derek Stingley intercepted Davis Mills for the first time. It was the first interception of camp for Mills and Stingley's first interception as well. It was an amazing play where Stingley almost knew the route and ran it before the wideout. He came down with the ball with ease. He continues to showcase why he was highly touted and highly drafted.
6. Wide receiver Chris Moore has made some nice plays. He is a factor to make the roster with the uncertainty in the wide receiver room. Moore hauled in a nice play in 1-on-1 work against Desmond King. Moore also had a huge grab during a less-than-two-minute drill.
7. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil is a joy to watch compete against the various pass rushers. My favorite reps are Tunsil against Jerry Hughes, although Jonathan Greenard is quickly climbing the ranks in giving Tunsil fits. The offensive and defensive linemen have mentioned multiple times how much they want to help each other grow.
8. Speaking of offensive linemen, Kenyon Green left practice and I didn’t see him return. This created an opportunity for Max Scharping to play some at guard next to Larmey Tunsil. Center Justin Britt and defensive end Mario Addison had veteran days off. Wideout Phillip Dorsett has yet to have a full practice.
9. Ross Blacklock had a phenomenal two-play series. Blacklock bullied an offensive lineman and blew up a run play. On the very next play, he did it again for another tackle for a loss. There is room for Ross Blacklock if he is playing that way.
10. Blake Cashman had two interceptions today. The linebacker acquired by the Texans via trade with the Jets has had a nice camp. He was brought up unprompted by Lovie Smith on Tuesday when talking about the linebackers on the team. Really, it feels like almost every linebacker has had some nice play at one point through five practices. Neville Hewitt once nicknamed “the tackling machine” forced a fumble earlier this week.
11. Another day, another tight end praise observation. This is a two-man room, but those two men are taking care of business! Brevin Jordan darted across the field in a 7-on-7 drill and wheeled up the sideline for a touchdown. In team drills, Pharaoh Brown took his turn impressing. He leaped and hauled in a Davis Mills pass, getting down for a score. The defense was furious the score was allowed, but Brown got down.
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It would be kind of funny if Christian Walker simply decided he wanted to check out what the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is all about. “Ow, my left oblique feels kind of sore. How about sending me to Houston for the weekend to get an MRI?” That would be quite a bodacious move, and total bull (props to you if you see what I did there). Of course, faking pain is not the case, and the Astros now cross their fingers that their 60-million dollar free agent signee doesn’t start his Houston tenure on the injured list. It certainly isn’t encouraging to know that Walker missed about 20 percent of last season with a left oblique injury. In 2021 he spent two stints on the IL because of right oblique problems. Obviously the Astros want return on their investment as quickly and as substantially as possible, but they would be fools not to treat this conservatively. Walker turns 34 years old the second day of the regular season. No one should be having night sweats just yet over the possibility that Walker is about to become Jose Abreu 2.0. Abreu was 36 when he debuted with the Astros. However, it is accurate to note that Abreu had a significantly higher WAR in his last season before joining the Astros than did Walker.
If Walker turns out to be sidelined for a month, that would mean the Astros need a first baseman for the first week and a half or so of the regular season. Let the drumbeat for Cam Smith begin! The sample size remains laughably small, but Smith continues to speak softly and swing a very, very big stick. If you’ll accept a .636 batting average as pretty good. It’s only 11 at bats. But yowza! If Walker is to be down into the regular season, and Smith keeps rocketing line drives in the Grapefruit League, the plot thickens. Smith only has 19 at bats above single-A. That’s 19 more than Albert Pujols had when the St. Louis Cardinals decided to have him in their lineup to begin the 2001 season. Albert did fairly well. He’s merely the greatest first baseman in National League history.
The much more conservative approach would be a platoon with Jon Singleton in the lineup against most right-handed pitchers and whoever is not catching between Yainer Diaz and Victor Caratini playing against lefties. Zach Dezenzo would be another option. Cam Smith is not an option to play first base, at least not early in 2025. Just in the last few days, he’s started doing some outfield drills because of the possible pathway to the big club in right field that I wrote about last week. Cam Smith is not going to make a huge jump to the big leagues and basically try to learn a new position on the fly there. However, Isaac Paredes owns a first baseman’s glove. Paredes started 13 games at first for the Rays last season. He made 40 starts total at first over the last three seasons, his only big league starts at first, after a grand total of two at first in the minors. Paredes temporarily moving to first would open up third base for Smith. Just sayin’...
What's in a name?
File this more under trivial than trivia, but here goes. When Isaac Paredes takes the field in the season opener, he officially becomes the third Paredes in Astros’ history. Utility man Jimmy Paredes got some run during the franchise deep in the abyss stage from 2010-13. Relief pitcher Enoli Paredes got 32 1/3 innings in over three seasons 2020-22. There have been only six guys named Paredes in MLB history. Come March 27 the Astros will have had half of them.
On the farm
MLB Pipeline this week released its in order ranking of the Astros’ top 30 prospects. Cam Smith is the obvious number one. Brice Matthews is number two. Drafted as a shortstop, Matthews has a better route to the bigs as a second baseman, given the Astros’ weak depth chart there with Jose Altuve becoming primarily a left fielder. Outfielder Jacob Melton is third. Considering the present state of the Astros’ outfield and that Melton turns 25 this September, if worth a darn, he should play his way on to the 26-man roster at some point this year. Catcher Walker Yanek ranks fourth. He was the Astros’ first round pick last July. Dezenzo rounds out the top five.
We’re under three weeks until Opening Day. 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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