Are the Stars Aligning for a Brevin Jordan Breakout?

Houston, we have pads on! It’s fair to say one of the biggest questions on Houston Texans fans’ minds is how quarterback Davis Mills will develop going into his sophomore season. That ties into a much grander question of how this offense will evolve now with Pep Hamilton at the reins taking over for Tim Kelly. Both Pep along with Mills come from Stanford roots and speak the same west coast language schematically speaking but Hamilton has said he would cater the offense to his personnel.

So what does this particular roster have to offer for Hamilton? Well echoing a philosophy established by both head coach Lovie Smith and general manager Nick Caserio that a tight end heavy offense would be the focus, Pep Hamilton made a comment that two tight end personnel sets were useful to determine what the defense was doing. With Pharaoh Brown being more of an in-line blocker that would leave Brevin Jordan as the tertiary option next to Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins. Which so far in camp appears to be a role he’s excelling in.

While fans should be wary of training camp buzz, especially from a player who averaged less than 30 snaps a game last season I think the cards are set in Jordan’s favor to see a nice improvement this year. Jordan is clearly the second tight end on the depth chart after Anthony Auclair’s injury which led to the team’s only attempt to fill depth was to bring in Ryan Izzo, the very same player who was cut in favor of Auclair last training camp. Throw in the fact that rookie Teagan Quitoriano has been injured during the start of camp and projects more as Pharaoh Brown’s backup, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone competitive for Jordan’s targets with Jordan Akins no longer on the roster.

Throw in the fact that after rookie John Metchie’s diagnosis combined with Phillip Dorsett also being injured it now becomes beneficial to play Brevin Jordan more frequently. Could Chester Rogers make a push for the slot role? Sure, absolutely, but even if you throw Chris Moore in (who also appears to be having a nice camp) none of them have already shown the rapport with Mills that Brevin Jordan has already displayed.

Breakout years are difficult to pinpoint. Nobody is truly there behind the scenes to watch a player’s improvement, see how they digest the playbook in meeting rooms, or even tell if what cut worked against a backup defender will work on Sundays. But still, almost every obstacle you could imagine preventing Brevin Jordan from stepping up have been removed. His position room is much less crowded from a year ago, he is expected to see the field more, given the current roster. He fits what the power structure envisions philosophically for the offense (at general manager, head coach, and offensive coordinator), and he has already shown steady progression last season from a tight end position that typically is a slow cooker for development. The only thing standing in Brevin’s way…is Brevin Jordan himself at this point. I don’t chart the stars or follow astrology signs nor am I superstitious (although I’m a little stitious) this ‘22-’23 season could just be the year of Brevin Jordan.