My time with a Texan (Owen Daniels)

[Tex Trenches]

I had a chance to spend some time with Owen Daniels our 4th round pick today and came away impressed. The young man seems to have it pretty well together considering he's in a new city without friends or family. For now that's what his new team will have to provide, and for a rookie trying to make a name for himself in the NFL, hanging around with his new teammates should provide a good sense of family. You see going into the draft the Texans weren't even in his top 5 in terms of teams he thought would draft him. The Texans never brought him in for a workout or showed any real interest in him until the day of the combine. There he talked to the Texans scouts for about 20 minutes and came away with a new perspective on the team. He said the conversation he had with the Texans went great, and at that point knew the team had their eye on him.

Growing up in Illinois Owen Daniels was a huge Bears fan and if he had a choice that would have been where he wanted to end up. As a matter of fact, if it wasn’t for ankle and knee issues to go along with a sub par senior season he just might have gotten his wish.

The first thing I asked him was how he liked Houston, and like most people not familiar with the south his answer was the typical “it’s hot” answer. I understand because I’ve lived here for 25 years and I’m still not used to it. Thank goodness for the practice bubble. I then asked him what he thought of the Texans practice facilities, he immediately answered, “I love them”. He said that he visited several teams before the draft and nothing compared to what the Texans have to as far amenities. Make no mistake about the Texans have a top notch set up.

I them asked him what the general feeling was with the team during OTA’s and he said that a lot of players can see a big difference compared to last year. He said as far as he can tell the players on the team have really responded to what the new coaches are trying to implement. I asked if he planed on getting significant playing time at the tight-end position considering how many this team is carrying right now. He said besides tight-end, the coaches have been lining him up at receiver and h-back, but really plans on making a name for himself on special teams.

Of course I couldn’t let our conversation end without bringing up Mario Williams the Texans #1 pick. I asked him what he thought of him, and without hesitation Owen’s replied, “He’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen, a freak of nature, the guy is a beast.” He said the guy was extremely fast with very long arms, and should pose as a serious threat for the opposition. At that point you could tell he was very excited to be a Texan.

Welcome to Houston Owen,

Tex Trenches

[bigbrewster2000]

This is the kind of stuff you love to read about especially this time of year. Trenches, where did you run into Owen at?

[bayoudreamn]

Originally Posted by Tex Trenches

I had a chance to spend some time with Owen Daniels our 4th round pick today and came away impressed. The young man seems to have it pretty well together considering he's in a new city without friends or family. For now that's what his new team will have to provide, and for a rookie trying to make a name for himself in the NFL, hanging around with his new teammates should provide a good sense of family. You see going into the draft the Texans weren't even in his top 5 in terms of teams he thought would draft him. The Texans never brought him in for a workout or showed any real interest in him until the day of the combine. There he talked to the Texans scouts for about 20 minutes and came away with a new perspective on the team. He said the conversation he had with the Texans went great, and at that point knew the team had their eye on him.

Growing up in Illinois Owen Daniels was a huge Bears fan and if he had a choice that would have been where he wanted to end up. As a matter of fact, if it wasn’t for ankle and knee issues to go along with a sub par senior season he just might have gotten his wish.

The first thing I asked him was how he liked Houston, and like most people not familiar with the south his answer was the typical “it’s hot” answer. I understand because I’ve lived here for 25 years and I’m still not used to it. Thank goodness for the practice bubble. I then asked him what he thought of the Texans practice facilities, he immediately answered, “I love them”. He said that he visited several teams before the draft and nothing compared to what the Texans have to as far amenities. Make no mistake about the Texans have a top notch set up.

I them asked him what the general feeling was with the team during OTA’s and he said that a lot of players can see a big difference compared to last year. He said as far as he can tell the players on the team have really responded to what the new coaches are trying to implement. I asked if he planed on getting significant playing time at the tight-end position considering how many this team is carrying right now. He said besides tight-end, the coaches have been lining him up at receiver and h-back, but really plans on making a name for himself on special teams.

Of course I couldn’t let our conversation end without bringing up Mario Williams the Texans #1 pick. I asked him what he thought of him, and without hesitation Owen’s replied, “He’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen, a freak of nature, the guy is a beast.” He said the guy was extremely fast with very long arms, and should pose as a serious threat for the opposition. At that point you could tell he was very excited to be a Texan.

Welcome to Houston Owen,

Tex Trenches

Great post. This MB is crazy. We've got regulars becoming "unpaid" journalists for the newspaper and now we've got regulars interviewing players for the evening edition

[Señor Stan]

Great job Tex Trenches! You asked better questions than the Comical reporters would have. Seriously.

The responses you got were probably more candid because they would not be on film or in print. Usually when guys are asked where they would have liked to play you get the standard "Well, ya know, I didn't really care, ya know, its just an honor to be drafted."

[bayoudreamn]

Originally Posted by Señor Stan

Great job Tex Trenches! You asked better questions than the Comical reporters would have. Seriously.

The responses you got were probably more candid because they would not be on film or in print. Usually when guys are asked where they would have liked to play you get the standard "Well, ya know, I didn't really care, ya know, its just an honor to be drafted."

I'm guessing Daniels didn't realize he was being interviewed

[Tex Trenches]

Originally Posted by bigbrewster2000

This is the kind of stuff you love to read about especially this time of year. Trenches, where did you run into Owen at?

I knew yesterday that I was going to see him.

[Tex Trenches]

Originally Posted by Señor Stan

Great job Tex Trenches! You asked better questions than the Comical reporters would have. Seriously.

The responses you got were probably more candid because they would not be on film or in print. Usually when guys are asked where they would have liked to play you get the standard "Well, ya know, I didn't really care, ya know, its just an honor to be drafted."

Thanks, I'll post more of our conversation later tonight. Stay tuned.

[Tex Trenches]

Part 2

Hearing some of the horror stories that rookies have gone through in the past I had to asked Owen if he has been hazed by his teammates yet, he said not yet, but he expects to have to take all of the tight-ends out to dinner before the season starts. He also said that it is going to cost him alot of money because those guys really know how to eat. I told him that would be alot cheaper than having to take all of those special teams players out. He laughed and said, no kidding.

I also asked if he has gone out at all and enjoyed any night life in Houston. He said he went to Wild West off Richmond one night. He said he felt like he had to go because he's a Texan now and he wanted to experience the true country atmosphere. I told him that really wasn't my cup of tea, but there was no denying the quilty of women in those places. All he could do is grin as if to say that's no joke. He said he likes to hang out in the Rice Village area.

All in all I could tell going out and painting the town red was something that was on the back burner for him. He seems to have bigger and better things planned for his future, and going bar hopping wasn't one of them.

[Tex Trenches]

I know my information is bunched together a bit, but I'm trying my best. After going over my notes I was able to extrapolate some more Texans news for everybody.

I talked to Owen a little more about the defense. In praticular the d-line. I asked who he thought had the inside track between Babin and Peek. Just like we've all been hearing about this summer Babin has been getting the majority of the reps with the starters. He thinks it's Babin's speed that gives him the upper hand over Peek. That's really not a knock on Peek because when we were talking about the two he really seemed torn between them. He let me know the competition has been ferocious, and it will only add to the depth that this team is going to have. He also metioned Weaver and how he is exclusively playing the tackle position during OTA's and really looking forward to the challenge. Overall we both agreed that the defensive line is giong to be very strong this year, and very intimidating.

I'll have some more in a little bit.

[BradK10]

man I tell ya, athletes LOVE goin to Wild West. My buddies and I almost every time we go run into some Astros.

[nunusguy]

I really enjoyed reading that double T, how were you able to strike up and
develope this relationship with Owens ? Will he be granting you any more
interviews in the future ? I sure hope so.
I was curious about his answer when you asked him about his initial impressions of Houston, because it wasn't lost on me when you said what his
response was - don't know if you knew, but Owen's major in college was meteorology ? Not that he had to study the subject to figure out what the
Houston summer is all about (besides lots of storms, sometimes 'canes).

[Tex Trenches]

It's a good possibillity that we talk again in the future considering I have his cell number and e-mail address. As long as I don't sell him down the river with this thread we will stay in good stead.

[SAMURAITEXAN]

Great posts Tex Trenches and thanks.

[chuckm]

awesome post...... thank you for sharing

[TexanSam]

Originally Posted by Tex Trenches

It's a good possibillity that we talk again in the future considering I have his cell number and e-mail address. As long as I don't sell him down the the river with this thread we will stay in good stead.

Really?? That is awesome! Did he mention how the tight ends are looking? After three years without using tight ends in our offense, it's nice to know that we'll actually have that option again.

[Tex Trenches]

Originally Posted by TexanSam

Really?? That is awesome! Did he mention how the tight ends are looking? After three years without using tight ends in our offense, it's nice to know that we'll actually have that option again.

As a matter a fact we did talk about the tight end position and more specifically Bennie Joppru and he confirmed what most of us already knew. He said the guy has been working out really hard and he thinks the guy is out to prove himself this year. Of course he said this with reserved emotions due to the fact that he is vying for Bennie's playing time. He basically thinks the pecking order is going to be.

1. Putzier
2. Bruener
3. Joppru

He also mentioned Ben Steele and Aron Halterman and said not to discredit them, he said this knowing that there is a heck of alot of competition at his position.

[Texan in Japan]

If Benny is back and healthly, I'm wondering if we'll keep Bruener as one of our 4 TEs? If we really needed a blocking TE for short yardage, why not use Eric Winston (former TE; much like we used Wand his rookie year)?

[PapaL]

Finally! Some good "news" on our guys. We are truely grateful.

[texan279]

Thanks for sharing, awesome story.

[Kaiser Toro]

Appreciate the story.