Only one player in the NFL has more special teams tackles this season than Brian Peters.

Two others have as many.

Peters, with 15 stops on punt and kickoff coverage in 2015, has been an invaluable member of the Texans special teams units. And he's done so in a very limited amount of time. Peters didn't join the squad until September 30, after the Texans had fallen to 1-2 on the season. Three days later, he made his first tackle, and has been a stalwart since.

"He's got really good speed," head coach Bill O'Brien said Monday on Texans Radio. "He is tough. He's made a bunch of tackles on kickoff. He's made a bunch of tackles on punt. He's a good communicator."

A second-year linebacker out of Northwestern, Peters' professional football journey has been a winding one. He played safety in college from 2007 to 2011, and rang up 11 interceptions during that time for the Wildcats. In 2012 he was an Iowa Barnstormer, which is an Arena League team. The two seasons after that were spent north of the border with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he won a Grey Cup in 2013. This August, he was in camp with the Vikings, but was cut in early September and then re-signed to the practice squad.

The Texans signed him to the 53-man roster at the end of that month, and he's been a mainstay since. Along with fellow special teams standouts Max Bullough and Akeem Dent, Peters has been a real key to the Texans' success.

"Now, for every future Houston Texan team, you can always point to these guys," O'Brien said. "These are the guys that really accepted their roles. They weren't starters on defense. Or starters on offense. But they really perfected their roles and they helped the team win. That's a key in the NFL."

Peters left Sundays' game with a chest injury, but still managed to log a tackle.

He and the Texans return to the practice field on Wednesday morning at the Houston Methodist Training Center. They'll host the Jaguars at noon CT this Sunday in NRG Stadium.

***Twitter.com/DoughertyDrew***

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