The Houston Texans added another piece to their secondary on Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft, selecting USC safety Kamari Ramsey in the fifth round with the 141st overall pick. Minutes after hearing his name called, Ramsey met with reporters and made one thing clear — he's ready to do whatever the team needs.
"Just very versatile. I played nickel, play both safeties," Ramsey said. "I could do anything that the team needs me to do. Just being physical, playing fast, and then a high football IQ player, knowing what everybody's job responsibility is and job description is on the field."
Ramsey arrives in Houston with a built-in support system. The Texans secondary already features multiple former USC Trojans, including Pro Bowl safety Calen Bullock and cornerback Jaylin Smith — a player Ramsey has known since childhood. Both Ramsey and Smith grew up in Palmdale, California, where they played Pop Warner football together and competed in 7-on-7 tournaments at rival high schools before eventually becoming college teammates at USC.
"I met him when we were kids playing Pop Warner football. We're from the same city, Palmdale, California," Ramsey said of Smith, whom he calls Jayroc. "He ended up going to my rival high school. They was like down the street from my high school. So we would play against him at 7-on-7 tournaments. And then he went to USC, and I ended up transferring over to USC. So he was my teammate. It's kind of crazy how this all comes back in full circle."
Ramsey said he also connected with Bullock during the pre-draft process. "I have spoken with Calen going through him when he was going through his process," Ramsey said. "Just seeing some familiar faces and having some people that have been through the process and went through this transition would be great for me just to get feedback and information and knowledge from them. I think it will make my transition a lot more smoother and allow me to catch up to speed very quickly."
Whatever his role Ramsey said his priority is simple. "Whether that's special teams, whether that's starter, backup, scout team player, just being a great teammate is the main focus for me and just being an asset to the organization."
The discipline traces back to his parents. "My parents made the decision that the school district in Palmdale wasn't challenging me and my siblings. So they moved us to an LA USD school district. With traffic in the morning, probably like an hour and 40 minutes. So we'd get up at like 4:30 in the morning and go down to school," Ramsey recalled. "That just showed me — seeing that from my parents, they'd make that type of decision for us just to put us in a better situation to better our life. Just showed me that with hard work, sacrifice anything is possible."
Ramsey carries that mentality into everything he does.
"I've been kind of an underdog most of my life. So just been taking that — okay, I got to put the work in. Don't want it easy. Let the good come easy," he said. "I always worked hard. Everything was earned and not given. That's kind of my mindset and how I approach everything."
