Dameon Pierce expected to push for starting job in Houston as rookie

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•04/30/22•

ZachAbolverdi

Dameon Pierce was the third and final Florida player selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, going 107th overall in the fourth round to the Houston Texans.

Pierce was thrilled about heading to the Lone Star State.

“I know they have pretty houses and pretty girls. Heck, that’s good for me,” he said Saturday on his introductory Zoom call. “Can’t wait to get down there and contribute. Happy to get down to Texas. Glad it’s not somewhere cold!”

Pierce was one of the hottest names at his position in this draft class. He was PFF’s highest graded running back in 2021 with a 92.0 overall mark and also led all backs with a 93.5 rushing grade.

Following his selection Saturday, multiple NFL analysts tweeted that Pierce will push for the starting job as a rookie next season, including Reese’s Senior Bowl Director Jim Nagy.

Houston GM on Dameon Pierce

The Texans currently have six other running backs on their roster, including the team’s leading rusher Rex Burkhead, who finished with just 427 yards last season and averaged 3.5 yards per carry.

Houston general manager Nick Caserio discussed drafting Pierce and the expectations for him to challenge Burkhead and others for playing time.

“He plays with a lot of joy. He plays with a lot of fight. He plays with a lot of toughness, and his personality, I would say, transfers over to the football field,” Caserio said of Pierce. “A guy that’s 5’9”, 217 pounds that’s built strong, low to the ground, has good contact balance, good lower body strength, good lateral quickness, maybe lacks a little top-end speed and has decent hands. I would say his mindset and skill set potentially projects to a role in the kicking game. We talked about players trying to create multiple roles for themselves on a roster, so I would say in Dameon’s situation, I think he’ll have an opportunity.

“I don’t think this is going to be all about offense and who is going to carry the ball, and ‘he is going to be lead runner.’ That’s a bunch of BS. I think he has to earn his opportunity on the team and create a role for himself, and I think his ability to potentially play on four downs is probably what’s more important than any particular thing about how many yards he is going to run for in early downs. We have a lot of good backs in this building, and I would say he is a part of that group, but I wouldn’t say he is any better than the guys that we have in the building. We’ll let the competition kind of play itself out and see what happens.”

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