Texans Execs Reveal What They See In Rookie LB Wallow

One position the Houston Texans have completely stripped back and started to rebuild from scratch this offseason has been at linebacker. One of the newest additions was fifth-round rookie Garret Wallow out of TCU and in a recent video for the Texans, general manager Nick Caserio and assistant director of player personnel Matt Bazirgan both discussed Wallow and some of what they saw in the youngster.

"Instinctive player, runs well, good tackler, again played in a good defensive system [for] coach Patterson at TCU," said Caserio. "His skills translate to what we're doing defensively and is similar to some of the players that we have on the team currently."

Since his arrival, an element of Wallow's game that both he and others have mentioned is leadership. Shortly after his selection, Wallow spoke of his desire to be "the best leader that I can" from the get-go. 

And clearly, this was something that the Texans had taken note of.

"A+ football character, everybody talks about that but it does matter, it makes a difference," said Caserio. "Coach-ability, willingness to take coaching, improve, handle adversity, adjust, handle transitions there's a lot of things that go into it but when you have more people like that in your building it pushes everybody along because it forces you to meet a standard and the expectation of like 'this is what we want.'"

A sentiment that Bazirgan mirrored.

"His energy, his juice, his passion, the way that his teammates responded to him from a leadership standpoint," said Bazirgan. 

And when on the field, Bazirgan praised the former safety for his ability to find the ball.

"He was around the ball a ton," said Bazirgan. "Kid with very good instincts, sniffs out the ball really well, can run."

The 6'2" 220-pound linebacker joins a crowded and competitive linebacker corps this year. And if Caserio and Bazirgan are correct, Wallow should be an integral part of this group at some point.