Ben Jones will never be called upon to field a punt in a game.
He's not known for his hands.
But on Thursday at minicamp practice, he got his teammates out of the June heat an hour or so earlier than planned.
Less than 30 minutes into Thursday's work, head coach Bill O'Brien called the Texans together and said that if Jones could cleanly catch a punt, practice would be finished. Rookie kicker Chris Boswell's leg was put to use, and Jones' hands finished the job.
"No matter what he was kicking, I was going to try to catch for the team," Jones said. "We've had a
Check out photos from the final day of Texans practice until the team meets at the Houston Methodist Training Center for training camp.
long grind through OTAs and minicamp."
His teammates erupted with joy when Jones brought in the punt, and their long break before training camp started an hour-and-a-half earlier than planned.
"It looked like a pooch punt," O'Brien said. "I'll have to talk to Boswell about that. He might have been a little nervous. Jonesy caught it, which was great."
Jones, according to O'Brien, was selected to field the punt because "you try to pick an offensive lineman that is a fun guy, a good guy, hard-working guy, and that's Ben Jones." The Texans won't practice again until the start of training camp in late July.
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