The Houston Texans have plenty of stats from the 2021 campaign that they have to look at if they want to improve in 2022.
Take for example their 3.4 yards per carry and 83.6 rushing yards per game. Those totals were both the lowest in the NFL. If Houston can’t run the ball, how is second-year quarterback Davis Mills going to get a chance?
According to Doug Farrar from the Touchdown Wire, the one stat that matters is 51.4.
In the interests of improving a secondary in need, the Texans selected LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. with the third overall pick in the 2022 draft. And if they get the guy who in 2019 allowed 34 catches on 92 targets for 608 yards, 200 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, six interceptions, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 51.4? That version of Stingley looked like a top-five pick, and he did it as the first true freshman to start on LSU’s defense in 34 years.
But over the next two seasons, injuries affected Stingley’s play, and that showed up both on tape and in the metrics. In 2020, he allowed 13 catches on 29 targets for 158 yards, 49 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 73.6. Last season, he allowed two receptions on four targets for 36 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, no pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 128.1.
Stingley is back from the Lisfranc foot injury that cost him most of the 2021 season, and the Texans are ramping him up in training camp. Hopefully, this is the Stingley we see in the NFL.
Don't try a fade route in the endzone on Derek Stingley.
You've been warned. pic.twitter.com/Xur2Ighv5x
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 3, 2022
The veterans have been impressed with Stingley throughout training camp.
“He’s very, very athletically gifted, but he’s also inquisitive,” receiver Chris Conley told reporters on Aug. 11. “He asks a lot of questions, and you can tell when he gets an answer and he picks something up, he’s on it. So he’s been playing extremely well.”
Texans fans will have to wait as Stingley won’t go against the New Orleans Saints in the preseason opener on Aug. 13.
