Matt Burke could have used whatever superlative he wanted to describe Houston Texans safety Jalen Pitre, but he picked a monosyllabic word that encompassed what he has seen from the second-year safety throughout the offseason program.
“Great — literally, I’m saying he’s great,” Burke told reporters May 31 after organized team activities.
Where the Texans’ defensive coordinator started in his determination that Pitre is great is in the meeting rooms, where the Texans’ offseason program started for the first two weeks in Phase 1 and starts each day, even with on-field work now available.
“Doesn’t say much in the meeting rooms and stuff from that point of view, but, man, is super communicative on the field,” Burke said. “I would just say [coach] DeMeco (Ryans) has a team meeting pretty much every morning, kind of recapping some of the stuff that happened from the day before, and I would say Jalen sort of finishing and effort shows up on that tape probably as much as anybody. I’m not going to discount anybody else, but just the way he approaches finishing every play in practice, being in good football position.”
Even though practicing with pads and hitting is not permitted until training camp, Burke is still able to tell when Pitre plays deep safety that he is taking the proper angles to limit the yards after the catch.
Said Burke: “We want our offensive guys finishing downfield, but Jalen is always there like getting to a hip, finishing in good position. So, just to see him train those habits consistently like that is just really cool. I think that’s what you guys saw obviously on the field last year, just like the fruits of those labors. Like he practices with intent and he’s very deliberate in everything he does, so I think that’s what kind of translates.”
Pitre led the Texans with 147 combined tackles and five interceptions as a rookie, starting 17 games.