Danny Amendola is back home.
The veteran wide receiver, who was born and raised in The Woodlands, signed with the club Tuesday and practiced on Wednesday afternoon at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
Amendola spent the past two seasons with the Detroit Lions. In 2020, he caught 46 passes for 602-yards. Head Coach David Culley is glad Amendola's now in Houston.
"Danny has been a quality player in this league for a long time," Culley said. "He fits the mold. We've had Anthony Miller, who's been our slot guy who's been hurt, we wanted to make sure we had some depth, another guy to be able to play that position if Anthony's not able to play and Danny fits that mold."
This isn't the first time Amendola has been coached by Culley. The former was the latter's position coach, while Amendola was a wideout with the Eagles in 2009. After going undrafted out of Texas Tech, he spent his rookie year of 2008 on the Cowboys' practice squad but signed with Philadelphia's practice squad in early January of 2009. Amendola was with the Eagles that offseason, through Organized Team Activities (OTAs) and training camp, before the Eagles cut him and put him back on the practice squad. Amendola signed with St. Louis Rams early in the 2009 campaign and was on their 53-man roster.
After four years in St. Louis, Amendola spent five years in New England, where he won a pair of Super Bowl rings with the Patriots. 2018 saw Amendola in Miami, before the last two seasons in Detroit.
Texans WR Brandin Cooks was a Patriot with Amendola in 2017, and he was excited to have the "smart" receiver in the fold in Houston.
"He's always seeming to be in the right place at the right time," Cooks said. "I look forward to how we're going to use him."
All told, Amendola has 5,964 career receiving yards and has caught 21 touchdowns in 12 NFL seasons. He's also averaged 9.4-yards per punt return over the last dozen years and even threw a pair of touchdowns. The first of his three career completions was a 28-yard scoring strike to Kenyan Drake in a Dolphins loss to the Texans in 2018.
The Texans open the 2021 regular season against Jacksonville at NRG Stadium on Sept. 12. Kickoff is set for noon on CBS and SportsRadio 610. Click here.
