While there has been a great deal of excitement surrounding the Houston Texans starting trio at wide receiver, for a second straight year they may have to delve deep into their depth chart on occasion.
If they can stay healthy, DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, and Keke Coutee could be one of the best-receiving groups in the NFL. However, while Hopkins and Fuller seem to be faring fine so far this training camp, Coutee was injured yet again during their first preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.
The timeline for his return is not certain yet, and should this be an issue during the regular season, they may have to rely more heavily on backup slot receiver and return specialist DeAndre Carter. But this doesn’t seem to worry Bill O’Brien.
“We talked about that last night, relative to Keke’s injury and I’m glad we have DeAndre Carter,” admitted O’Brien in a press conference on Thursday.
“He’s a good solid player, he’s got good quickness, he’s a strong player, he’s a good punt returner. He averaged like almost 9.6 yards per punt return last year, which is a good drive starter when you can average almost 10 yards a punt return, so I’m glad we have got him.”
Carter was picked up by the Texans off of waivers last season when the Philadelphia Eagles opted to part ways with the former undrafted free agent out of Sacramento State.
With injuries depleting their receiver corps last season, Carter played a larger than expected role for his new team lining up on the offense in seven regular-season games, receiving 20 of 23 targets for 195 yards.
Now that he is growing ever more familiar with O’Brien’s offense it seems safe to say that Carter will see more of the field in 2019.
