National Football League

Three things to watch for on Hard Knocks with the Houston Texans

Published Jul. 7, 2015 5:09 p.m. ET

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By Cameron Duval

Year after year HBO treats us football fans with a special treat from inside NFL training camps, a.k.a. Hard Knocks.

After the Atlanta Falcons were the feature team last year, the Houston Texans are getting some quality camera time.

As they say, “Everything is bigger in Texas.” Meaning that this season should have a lot more to offer than the one down in Atlanta.

The Texans have at least a few headlines that will grab your attention. J.J. Watt may be the most obvious form of entertainment, but the others on this list will also be something to keep your eye on.

Heated quarterback competition

For those teams without a franchise quarterback, it’s a competition.

In the case of the Houston Texans, there are three quarterbacks on their listed on their current depth chart that could all make a run at being the starter in Week 1.

According to most, the closest battle will be between offseason acquisition Brian Hoyer and an offseason acquisition last year in Ryan Mallett.

Hoyer came over from the Browns, after starting 13 games for them last season, going 7-6 as their starter. He threw for 3,326 yards, 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The year before he went 3-0 in three games as their starter.

Mallett is quite familiar with his competition, spending 2011 with the New England Patriots with Hoyer.

Clearly Hoyer has the edge when it comes to experience, Mallett has only started two NFL games, both of which came last year with the Texans. He posted a 1-1 record in those two games and he stats weren’t anything special.

He completed 41 of 75 passes for 400 yards and had an even split with touchdowns and interceptions, with two a piece.

The last party involved is the former fourth round pick Tom Savage.

Savage is yet to start a game, but has seen action in two. His results were 10 completions for 127 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception.

All signs say that Savage looked really good in OTAs and minicamp, so look for him to jump one of the other two quarterbacks for the No.2 spot, who knows he might even get a start this season if the other two aren’t performing.

The J.J. Watt show

So far Watt has had a busy offseason off the field and his accolades on the field speak for themselves. Watt is a three-time Pro Bowler and has been named an All-Pro three times as well.

Even if it is in practice, it will be fun to watch Watt put his craft to work as the league’s most dominant defensive player. Along with his other accolades, Watt has also been named the Defensive Player of the Year on two separate occasions.

Switching gears to his activity off the field; Watt has attended the CMA Awards, a soccer game overseas, strapped up his skates in Wisconsin, speared a stage jumper at a Zac Brown Band concert and met up with Arnold Schwarzenegger for some hilarious impersonations.

The question will be, is it more entertaining to watch what he does on the field or off it?

You can’t go wrong with either, and in his case all the things he does off the field are good things and not things we would frown upon.

Hard Knocks should give us a taste of what Watt has to deal with as one of, if not the best, player in the league. This will be the first time in a while that the show has featured such a polarizing figure.

The Arian Foster approach

Arian Foster has established himself in the history of being considered one of the best undrafted free agents of all time.

The Houston Texans really lucked out in taking a chance on this guy.

Dating back to 2010, Foster has been among the league’s top running backs and the stats to show for it.

He has been in the league six years and of those six, he has four seasons of at least 1,200 yards rushing.

He has not only proven he can carry the load, but also has a nose for the end zone.

In his career he’s carried the ball 1,391 times and has 53 touchdowns.

But enough of his proven ability, Foster is a guy who thinks a bit outside the box.

Foster is fond of poetry, is a vegan and has shared some pretty odd Tweets.

During the show pay attention to what he does once he gets home, what he orders at team dinners and then more Tweets like these.

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