Today, tomorrow and Sunday at the Texans rookie mini-camp, a pair of drafted pass catchers will be watched closely.
And for different reasons.
Third-rounder Jaelen Strong from Arizona State and fifth-rounder Keith Mumphery from Michigan State will both start out as outside receivers on the opening weeks of their Texans careers. For Strong, head coach Bill O'Brien wants to see two main things.
"His conditioning level and ability to take the subject that we're teaching in the meeting out to the field and get better every day," O'Brien said Friday morning.
Strong had a fracture in one of the small bones in a wrist. But in addition to wondering about the former Sun Devil's fitness level, O'Brien is curious about the learning process for Strong.
"It's not an easy offense to learn for a young receiver," O'Brien said. "If you look at the past with our receiver position, it's not always easy for a young guy to jump in there and learn all the things that we do right away."
As for Mumphery, a position change to running back might be in the distant future. For now though, he's an outside receiver who will also be counted upon to contribute in the four core special teams unites.
"I don't think you'll see him at running back this weekend, but we know that he does have that skillset in his background," O'Brien said. "Let's see if he can learn the formation and where to line up, today."
The rookies will practice at the Houston Methodist Training Center, and go through film work and preparations at NRG Stadium.
Take a look at Jaelen Strong's football career at Arizona State.
