The Houston Texans added to their running back corps with former Florida running back Dameon Pierce.
Houston selected Pierce with the No. 107 overall pick in Round 4 of the 2022 NFL draft, and will join a stable that includes Rex Burkhead, Marlon Mack, and Royce Freeman.
What Texans general manager Nick Caserio is hoping Pierce can bring to the Texans is a furthering of the tough mindset necessary to have an effective run game.
“Football is a mindset,” said Caserio. “Football is a tough ass game that requires mental toughness, physical toughness, and competitive stamina. That’s what football demands. You have to have the requisite physical skills along with those types of qualities. The more players you have like on that on your team, when you turn to either side of you and you see that’s the mindset and that’s the mentality and that’s the work ethic, you don’t have a choice because if you don’t do that, you’re going to stand out like a sore thumb.”
Caserio pointed out that Pierce would join Burkhead and Mack as running backs who inspire the offensive line with their tough mindset.
“Offensive linemen want to block for people that have that mentality,” said Caserio. “We talk about straining. We talk about finishing and getting the extra yard. When you see a player that does that, that does everything he can to try to gain extra yards, it says I’m trying to do everything I can to help this team gain basically another yard, another inch, so you add up the inches and add up the yards. That can maybe make the difference in a score at the end of the game.”
Caserio noted that Pierce complements the mindset shared by safety Jalen Pitre, receiver John Metchie, tackle Austin Deculus, and guard Kenyon Green, who he said was a, “bi ass physical offensive lineman that moves people.”
Said Caserio: “You want to be a tough team. You want to be a physical team. You better have tough, physical players that adopt that mindset and then see what happens when we get on the field.”
If the Texans can add an element of toughness and road grading to the offense, it will help form the attitude necessary to make Houston a tough opponent on a weekly basis.
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