He may have been a longshot to make the 53-man roster, but A.J. Bouye didn't pay attention to that notion.
"It feels great," Bouye said Monday. "I'm not surprised or anything, and it hasn't hit me yet, but it feels great."
A cornerback out of Central Florida, Bouye is one of a quartet of undrafted rookies to make the Texans active roster. He joins running back Cierre Wood and linebackers Willie Jefferson and Justin Tuggle as players who weren't selected during the NFL Draft in late April. Even though Bouye said he wasn't surprised to make the team, he still said the Thursday night and early Friday morning hours following the preseason finale against the Cowboys were restless ones.
"I didn't sleep that much," Bouye said. "I just watched ESPN."
Bouye picked off a pass in the win in Arlington, and wound up with seven total tackles during the four preseason contests in August. He also was a bright spot during camp, and took advantage of the wealth of experience already in place in the Texans' secondary with players like Johnathan Joseph, Ed Reed and Danieal Manning.
"I ask J-Joe a lot for different techniques," Bouye said. "He's been helping me out a lot. I talk to Ed a lot. I talk to all the DB's. We're like brothers there, so we're always talking, staying close."
With Joseph, Kareen Jackson, Brice McCain and Brandon Harris, Bouye is the youngest cornerback on the Texans. Regardless of how much playing time he sees in 2013, the rookie said he's going to tackle the chance in front of him now that he's officially on the roster.
"It's a big opportunity," Bouye said. "A lot of people thought I wasn't going to make it. Just to be here today, and to take advantage of it, have fun, help this team win."
