Texans Rookie Appears Poised for Bigger Role

The Houston Texans, in the midst of their Week 12 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football, saw a lot of positive moments out of one rookie defender, sixth-round safety Jaylen Reed, who stepped up in a primetime setting to make some big plays and some big stops defensively.

Reed, against Buffalo, saw his highest snap-count of the season defensively in the back-end of their secondary, ensuring to make the most of his opportunity by logging 12 total tackles, along with a fumble recovery that was forced out by the hands of Calen Bullock.

Needless to say, a strong introduction into the Texans' elite defense after seeing just one total defensive snap before Thursday night.

And with a quality performance now in the rear-view mirror for Reed, it seems like for head coach DeMeco Ryans, it was enough to want him involved even more on the defense moving forward.

"Jaylen [Reed] stepped in and he played swarm football," Ryans said of Reed. "He was see ball, get ball. He's flying around, making plays. Of course, some things to clean up, but I'm encouraged with what he did."

Jaylen Reed Eyeing Bigger Role in Texans Defense

Reed deserves a bit of extra praise his way for the way he handled his standout performance against Buffalo on what was inevitably a short week of preparation and less practice time to utilize. With little time to get reps throughout practice with the first unit, especially for a rookie, that can make for some added challenges.

However, based on the results, that short window didn't seem to both Houston's first-year safety much, as Reed would lead the team in tackles by far, made plays on the football, and caught the attention of the coaching staff in what was his best week of production since elevated from Injured Reserve in Week 6.