Former Virginia Tech DL Pheldarius Payne convinces Texans coach during mini-camp

Ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, one player who impressed some teams was Virginia Tech defensive lineman Pheldarius Payne. He turned heads at the Virginia Tech Pro Day and ended up pitching Top 30 matchups with some teams, including the New York Giants.

Although he impressed before the draft, his name was never called, but it didn’t take long after the draft ended for him to agree to an undrafted contract. Payne ended up signing with the defending AFC South champions, the Houston Texans. He is currently attending his first mini-camp in Texas, but seems to be impressing his new team.

Second-year Texans coach DeMaco Ryans has been impressed with Payne early and hopes he can find a place for the former Hokie in his defense with explosiveness and speed.

“He’s an undersized defensive tackle, very explosive and fast. You’ve seen him make a lot of plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage, using his explosiveness, his quickness. We’d like to see him translate that into our plan 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 – guys attack and we can use his quickness – I. hope Payne can be a guy who can add to this group as well.

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– DeMaco Ryans

Payne had a strong final season in 2023 with Virginia Tech and was a big part of turning around the defense once ACC play began, when they began putting more pressure on opposing quarterbacks and accumulate bags. It’s still early in minicamp and then training camp this summer, but so far so good for Payne with Houston as his undrafted lineman.