Competition Brewing for Houston Texans' Tight Ends

When the Houston Texans took a pair of tight ends in the fourth and fifth rounds of April's NFL Draft, it created a logjam at the position.

Following a Pro Bowl season in which Owen Daniels caught 70 passes for 862 yards and two touchdowns, the Texans selected North Carolina State's Anthony Hill with the 122nd pick in the fourth round and Rice's James Casey in the next round with the 152nd selection.

Coupled with third-year tight end Joel Dreessen, Houston is stacked at tight end.

"I think that the only way you can get better as a team, through my experience, is you have to continue to bring in players who will challenge the players that you have," Texans tight end coach Brian Pariani told HoustonTexans.com.

Well, the Texans won't have a problem creating competition at the position. And with an emerging quarterback in Matt Schaub, who threw for 3,043 yards and 15 touchdowns in 11 games, there could be plenty of balls to go around.

That is, for those who emerge after training camp and preseason.

"Going into it, I was expecting third, fourth round and hoping maybe, possibly somebody would take a shot at me in the second round, but it didn’t work out that way," Casey said on the team's website. "That’s just going to serve to motivate me even more. I like to see it as, of course, that the Texans got a steal with this pick." 

Playing in the Texans backyard at neighboring Rice, Casey set a school record with 111 receptions for 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns to earn All-American honors.

Hill, a Houston native, was chosen for his run blocking ability. He fulfills a void with veteran Mark Bruener retiring.

"There’s not a lot of career stats you can take for a tight end of this (kind)," Pariani told HoustonTexans.com. "When you draft players like this, people are going to say, ‘What about his numbers?’ and those things. But what this guy brings, you have to run the ball in the league, and that’s what this guy (will help us do). With Mark retiring, he’ll be a good fit for what we want to do."  

What the Texans want to do is take the next step in becoming a playoff team. They did their part in drafting tight ends who will help create a competitive edge.

"And all those teams that passed on me, it’s another thing that motivates me," Casey told team insiders. "It’s motivated me my whole life when people doubt me. So I really am going to use that as motivation to show people that I’m a lot better than what people think and I’m going to use that with the Houston Texans to hopefully show everybody how good I am."