HOUSTON — With only one preseason game left before the start of the NFL regular season, many players from the Houston Texans will try to make a strong impression on head coach DeMeco Ryans and general manager Nick Caserio against the New Orleans Saints before Tuesday’s deadline to cut the roster from 90 to 53 players.
Those players on the borderline of making the Texans roster won’t be the only ones with something to prove inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Second-year offensive guard Kenyon Green will make the most of the limited snaps the starters will receive.
Green, whom the Texans took in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, is looking to rebound from his rough rookie season, where he was matched up against some of the best defensive tackles in the league. In his 15 games played, he allowed four sacks, which is very rare for the former two-time Consensus All-American, but what was unacceptable by Green’s standards were the 12 penalties he committed.
He missed OTAs due to a minor arthroscopic knee surgery and was limited to begin training camp. Yet, when he finally began to play, you could see the work he had put into the offseason to get better and help his team heading into the regular season.
“Just technique,” Green said about what he wants to improve this season. “Technique and just finishing plays. That’s what I’m focused on right now. Technique and finishing plays, hands inside, just trying to be the best player I can be.”
He only played 12 snaps against the New England Patriots in the first preseason game. He was part of the group that allowed a lot of pressure on rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, giving him a limited amount of time to make decisions. It was the first game he played with rookie center Juice Scruggs, who was inserted into the starting lineup after Scott Quessenberry went down in training camp with a season-ending injury.
Green and Scruggs finally got on the same page in game two against the Miami Dolphins, where they allowed Stroud to operate in a clean pocket as he completed 66.7% inside the tackle box as no Dolphins defensive player took Stroud down for a sack.
“We came out with the mindset that we were going to dominate on the offensive line,” Green said after practice on Friday. “The main thing was we don’t want to give up any sacks. Juice [Scruggs] is advanced. It is really fun playing with him knowing learning, but also knowing what to do. He is getting everything down like he should. He commands the huddle.”
With the starters playing limited snaps in the final preseason game, Green will have an opportunity to get more time with Scruggs and Stroud, which will help the communication grow as they head into the regular season.
