Texans wide receiver Joe Adams, 24, had a pretty good first day of work.
"The first day went great for me," Adams said on Friday after practice. "I didn't put any balls on the ground. I made sure that I knew what I was doing when I was out there. I'm learning on the fly."
Adams, 24, signed on Friday as a free agent. The 5-11, 185-pound receiver caught a pass down the left sideline from quarterback Tom Savage and also fielded kicks on special teams earlier Friday morning. Named the SEC's top special teams player of 2011, Adams hopes he can be a big contributor for the Texans return game now that he's in Houston.
"Special teams is a big key for me," Adams said. "I love playing special teams. It's a one play change for a game, so whatever I can do on special teams to help the team, that's what I'm here for."
On offense, Adams has a long-time friend and teammate in running back Dennis Johnson, whom he considers like a brother. The two of them go back to their high school days. Both were top football players in the state and Johnson's presence was one of the reasons why the Adams chose to go to Arkansas.
Adams was a fourth-round draft pick, selected 104th overall by the Carolina Panthers in 2012. He also had a brief stint with the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League earlier this year.
The Texans add depth at wide receiver after placing Alan Bonner, a sixth-round draft pick from 2013, on injured reserve following the team's first day of camp.
"We felt like we just wanted to add a receiver at that position based on the camp numbers," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "He was a guy that was out there that we thought had a shot to come in here and make a contribution. I thought his first day here came in there was running around, so it is going to be good to watch him and see how we can keep improving on the field."
Even with the addition of Adams in camp, O'Brien calls the special teams kick and punt return battles "wide open" for now.
"Obviously, Keshawn Martin did it last year; he'll do it again in the preseason," O'Brien said. "Mike Thomas will be back there. Obviously, this new guy, Joe Adams, we'll give him a shot. You may even see Kareem Jackson back there returning punts. You never know. DeVier Posey, I mean we've got a lot of candidates back there. We'll have to let that shake out and make sure that we're doing a good job of like I said, tracking it so that they get somewhat of an equal amount of opportunities."
The Texans 2014 preseason kicks off against the Cardinals on Saturday, August 9 at Arizona.
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