Houston Texans safety Grayland Arnold took the scenic route to getting onto an NFL roster.
The former Kountze High School and Baylor product fell out of the 2020 NFL draft. The 5-10, 187-pound defensive back caught on with the Philadelphia Eagles as a priority free agent, phasing between the team’s practice squad and active roster throughout the regular season.
At the end of the 2021 preseason, Philadelphia cut Arnold. The Texans signed Arnold to the practice squad heading into Week 2 of the regular season.
“I feel like for anybody it’s a humbling experience,” Arnold told Houston Style Magazine’s Brian Barefield. “You coming out early, you’re expecting to get drafted. So, it humbled me, but at the end of the day, man, like I say, it don’t matter, drafted or not, your ass still got to compete. You got to go compete.”
“It don’t matter, drafted or not, your a** still gotta go compete,” said Houston Texans defensive back Grayland Arnold when I asked about being undrafted after leaving Baylor early. #WeAreTexans #Texans @GRAYLAND_1 @BUFootball #Sarge pic.twitter.com/2Yumo9ke4Q
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) July 30, 2022
Arnold is in a competitive secondary room that includes second-rounder Jalen Pitre and former New England Patriots defensive back Terrence Brooks. Eric Murray, one of the free agent signings from the Bill O’Brien era, remains on the roster as well.
For Arnold, the competition to make an NFL roster is a daily grind, and the rewards come for those who endure until the end.
Said Arnold: “It don’t matter if you get that bag up front or down the road. You got to go prove it. You got to go earn it. So, it was a little humbling experience, but at the same time, it’s the same mindset going into it.”
Arnold provided the Texans with one tackle through four games in 2021. Most of Arnold’s work came on special teams with 32 such snaps compared to three on defense. If Arnold’s hard work pays off, he could make a case to get more defensive snaps in coach Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 scheme.
