HOUSTON – When the NFL draft ended, Pheldarius Payne had plenty of options.
As a disruptive defensive tackle for Virginia Tech who began his career at Lackawanna Junior College in Pennsylvania before signing with Nebraska, Payne had the third-highest Pro Football Focus grade among defensive tackles with a 90.7 mark.
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At 6-foot-3, 276 pounds, Payne ran the 40-yard dash in 4.85 seconds. He had 31 tackles, 10 for losses, four sacks and one forced fumble last season for the Hokies after missing the 2022 season with a torn Achilles.
And the Texans signed Payne to an undrafted free agent deal that includes a $15,000 signing bonus and $75,000 of his base salary guaranteed, per a league source. The Texans listed him as a defensive end on their roster heading into a rookie minicamp that wrapped up Saturday. They like his upside.
“With signing Payne as a defensive tackle for us out of Virginia Tech, he’s an undersized defensive tackle that is very explosive and quick,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “You saw him make a lot of plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage, utilizing his explosiveness, his quickness. So, we would like to see him translate that to our scheme and what we do.
“We have some smaller defensive linemen on our team, and I think when guys play the style of ball that I want to play. The guys are attacking and we can utilize his quickness. Hopefully, Payne can be a guy who can add to that group as well.”
#Texans coach DeMeco Ryans likes quickness of undrafted defensive tackle Pheldarius Payne @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/R2M5PDumI5
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 10, 2024
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.
