Texans head coach Gary Kubiak is growing concerned about the Texans backup wide receiver position.
“I’m concerned, to be honest with you," Kubiak told a media gathering Sunday afternoon. "(The backup group is) so young. You usually keep five guys. To sit here and tell you who (the fourth and fifth receivers) are right now, I think it’s a big toss-up." (houstontexans.com)
Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter and Jacoby Jones hold down the top three spots but it's still not clear who will claim the WR4 and WR5 positions on the 53 man roster come September 3.
Entering training camp it seemed that WR4 was Dorin Dickerson's position to lose but the emergence of Lestar Jean over the past two weeks has shined a new light on the backup receiver competition.
Jean has impressed Texans coaches in camp and he had two big catches in the win over the Jets on Monday Night Football.
Jean came out with the 2's against the Saints Saturday night, but he bruuised his shoulder while blocking on a running play early in the 3rd quarter. His injury status for the coming week is still being assessed.
"I was very excited about what Lestar (Jean) had done," said Kubiak. "I don’t know if he’s going to miss some time now. I won’t know here for a couple days."
Kubiak indicated that special teams will play a factor, which should give Dickerson an edge over at least some of his competition since he plays on coverage teams. But it's not like DIckerson has done anything extraordinary as a wide receiver to lock up a roster spot.
In the mix for the fifth spot are second year player Derrick Townsel, recently signed free agent Devard Darling, and undrafted free agents Jean, Terrence Toliver and Jeff Maehl. Paul Williams and Trindon Holliday are also on the roster but are the longest of long shots to make the roster at this point.
"I think (the competition) is wide open," said Kubiak. "I would just say this: whoever’s going to be (WR4), whoever’s going to be (WR5), they need to earn the spot. We’re not just going to give them away. It’ll be very competitive here the next two weeks.”
I'm not sure if Kubiak was intending to light a fire under Dickerson, but if he was, I'd say he was successful. A few hours after Kubiak's comments, DIckerson posted this on his Twitter account:
"Never been givin anything in my whole life. Dont plan on having anything "givin" to me now."
So stay tuned, Texans fans. It should be a fun week watching the position battle at backup wide receiver.
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