{"id":909214,"date":"2026-06-03T21:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/909214\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:57:09","slug":"texans-second-year-dbs-receive-high-praise-from-demeco-ryans-following-otas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/909214\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans second-year DBs receive high praise from DeMeco Ryans following OTAs"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Houston Texans’<\/a> defense remains elite at everyone postion, the area with the fewest concerns is the secondary.<\/p>\n

And given another year in the system, plus a healthy offseason from two young players, it only should continue to flourish in 2026.<\/p>\n

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The Texans<\/a> used two draft picks last April on cornerback Jaylin Smith<\/a> and safety Jaylen Reed.<\/a> Smith, a third-round pick out of USC, was expected to be used as Houston’s third corner behind Pro Bowlers Derek Stingley Jr.<\/a> and Kamari Lassiter<\/a>. He saw action in four games and had six tackles plus a fumble recovery before his season was cut short.<\/p>\n

Reed, a sixth-round pick out of Penn State, was expected to serve as depth behind C.J. Garnder-Johnson and Pro Bowler Calen Bullock<\/a>, but saw his role expand during the regular season after the former was cut three games into the campaign. Known for his hard-hitting demeanor in college, Reed played in seven games and one start matchup, recording 11 tackles and a fumble recovery before dealing with a forearm injury.<\/p>\n

Now, both defenders are competing for playing time behind starters and are slated to be solid special-teams players for Frank Ross’ unit. They’ve also caught the attention of head coach DeMeco Ryans<\/a> through the early stages of OTAs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like Jaylin has taken a really nice jump in his second year,\u201d Ryans said. He\u2019s put in the work. Although he was down with injury, he\u2019s come back stronger, looks faster. He\u2019s making a lot of plays out here on the practice field. So, I\u2019m excited and encouraged by his development of what he\u2019s been able to do.”<\/p>\n

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Reed is expected to have an expanded role on special teams, serving as the primary blocker for the punter on coverage and a factor on the inside rush for kickoffs.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s been lights out when it comes to his communication, starting with the punt team communication for us, put a lot on their plate,” Ryans said of Reed. “He\u2019s handled it really well, done a great job in the meetings and also making it translate to the field. So, I just love to see the growth. That\u2019s what is expected. I\u2019m excited about that as a coach to see what they\u2019re going to do this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texans return to practice on Thursday in front of the media.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans second-year DBs receive high praise from DeMeco Ryans following OTAs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Houston Texans’ defense remains elite at everyone postion, the area with the fewest concerns is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[7578,3607,1085,7,9603,221,253,2368,2930,2766,463,6,222],"class_list":["post-909214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-calen-bullock","tag-demeco-ryans","tag-derek-stingley-jr","tag-football","tag-fumble-recovery","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-jaylen-reed","tag-jaylin-smith","tag-kamari-lassiter","tag-nfl","tag-texans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116688417199376030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}