'Unreal' Texans S Jalen Pitre: NFL's 'Most Underrated DB'?

Looking to build on a strong rookie season, Jalen Pitre is receiving praise from fellow safety Julian Love.

There are very few positions, if any, that are more difficult to transition to at the NFL level than defensive back. From reading and reacting quicker to more advanced offenses to simply covering world-class athletes, the transition can be rough.

Despite that, though, Houston Texans safety Jalen Pitre started his career off with a bang in 2022. After being drafted in the second round, the young safety put together a dominant rookie season.

Now as he enters his second season he looks to take another step forward and get even better. However, some already have plenty of praise for the young defender, with Seattle Seahawks safety Julian Love declaring him the most underrated defensive back in the NFL on Good Morning Football.

"My number one pick, most underrated defensive back in the league right now, I’m going Jalen Pitre," Love said. "This guy had a crazy rookie season and no one was talking about him."

"I think it’s because of the lack of success that the Texans had but this guy had 145 tackles and five picks. That’s unreal."

Of course, all it takes is one look at Pitre's numbers to see just how good he was as a rookie. Love was slightly off with his tackle numbers, as Pitre finished with 147 instead of 145, which led the Texans. 

He was accurate on his interception totals, however, as Pitre indeed finished with five - again, the most on the team. Pitre was more than just a ballhawk as well, providing suffocating coverage which led to eight passes defended. 

No, the Texans were not good on defense last season. In fact, they were downright bad, sporting the 27th-ranked scoring defense - giving up 24.7 points per game on 379.5 yards of total offense. 

Even with such poor numbers, Pitre was not the main reason why. He had some growing pains, as all rookies do, but he was a lone bright spot. If he can take another step forward in 2023, then the Texans have their secondary anchored for the foreseeable future.

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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