Welcome to the NFL, Teagan Quitoriano.
The Houston Texans rookie tight end made his NFL debut Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles and the first catch of his career resulted in a touchdown.
"Teagan, his first career catch, I guess, was a touchdown," QB Davis Mills said. "That's pretty cool for him. He is a true wide tight end. Helps a lot in the run game and does a lot surprisingly in the passing game because he is going to go and separate with his speed, and it catches people off guard how fast he is. So it's going to be exciting to see how he develops and keeps getting better each week."
Without top two wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins active, Mills threw a two-yard pass to the rookie on the opening drive of the game. Quitoriano's touchdown capped off a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive to give Houston a 7-0 lead with 9:37 left in the first quarter.
"I just think my offense in college was kind of similar," Quitoriano said. "We ran a lot of the same things. So going into playing with Houston is really a lot of the same formations, same plays and just stuff that I stuff that I feel pretty comfortable doing. So I think that helps a lot."
Quitoriano, who played tight end for four seasons (2018-21) at Oregon State, suffered a knee injury in training camp. After working his way back, he was officially activated to the 53-man roster just hours before Thursday's game.
"I've been doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes, just working and trying to get back and it was just it felt really good to get out there and compete with all my guys," Quitoriano said.
Selected in the fifth round (170th overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft, Quitoriano began the season on the Reserve/Injured list with a knee injury. He began practicing with the team after being designated to return on Oct. 17.
