Rookie Houston Texans running back Dameon Pierce showed everything you want from a young player with an incredible tackle during his preseason debut. 

The Houston Texans are certainly a team that are looking to make a big bounce back this season and in the coming years. Having traded away Deshaun Watson to the Cleveland Browns and having finished last season with a 4-13 record, a lot of faith is being placed in the young talent that they’ve got to take them forward.

One of those men is Davis Mills their quarterback, a 3rd round pick during the 2021 Draft, he threw for 2,664 yards and 16 touchdowns last season whilst completing 66.8% of his throws. Respectable numbers certainly, especially for a rookie, but if they’re going to compete he’s going to have to do a lot better than that.

And if he doesn’t then it might be down to the players that are around him to pick up the slack. This year the team made a big improvement by snagging arguably the best corner in the draft in Derek Stingley Jr out of LSU and guard Kenyon Green from Texas A&M, but it might be someone from a later round that is putting himself in the best position to help the team out.

That man is running back Dameon Pierce.

Looking to fill a hole

Last year was something of a disaster for the Texans when it came to the run game, with their top rusher Rex Burkhead only able to put up 427 yards, whilst also putting up just 3 rushing touchdowns. For perspective, that’s the same number that backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor managed to put up during his six games for the side.

So it’s no surprise to see that the team looked into adding some new players at the position this offseason, one of those men being Pierce out of the University of Florida in the 4th round. His final year in college could have been better in terms of overall numbers, with only 574 rushing yards, but there’s no doubting his finishing ability as he scored 13 rushing touchdowns for the Gators last year.

But it takes more than talent in order to make it in the NFL, you need hard work, and that’s exactly what Pierce showed with an incredible play against the New Orleans Saints.

All-out hustle

In footage posted by the Texans on social media, it shows Piercebeing pushed down to the ground following an interception and making up an awful lot of ground to track down the ball carrier and stop him from running it back in for a touchdown:

Now the Texans do have a lot of running backs on their roster right now, and whilst there will be cuts coming in the next few weeks, competition is going to be fierce to make it onto the roster for the 2023 season, but with a play like this, Pierce certainly made a great case that he deserves to be near the top of the depth chart.