Before Saturday’s preseason home opener, the Texans honored receiver Jacoby Jones, who died on July 14. He was a third-round pick of the Texans in 2007.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans played with Jones for five seasons in Houston. After the game, Ryans explained what it meant to see his former teammate being remembered by the team that drafted both of them.
“It’s a tough moment when you see such a young guy, a former teammate, to be so young,” Ryans told reporters. “Losing a guy at such a young age, it’s tough to see his picture up there and to be honoring him in this moment. Our hearts, prayers still go out to Ms. Emily and Jacoby Jr. on that loss. It’s a tough one to handle. For me, especially, any time you lose a teammate there and guy who’s so full of life, a guy who always had a smile on his face, always lit up a room, dancing, joking, whatever it was. You miss that fun-spirited guy. No one misses him more than his family, his mother and his son. Our prayers are with them. I’m happy that our organization was able to honor him in that way and give his family that respect and honor today.”
Jones played from 2007 through 2011 with the Texans. In 2012, he played a key role in the Ravens getting to the Super Bowl and winning it. He caught the long touchdown pass that forced overtime in Denver in the divisional round, and he returned a kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLVII.
