Breaking on the football to disrupt passing lanes, Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye displayed a growing confidence and quickness as he batted away throws from quarterback Brock Osweiler.

Bouye is continuing the upward trend he started during the spring when he picked off Osweiler and returned it for a touchdown.

Bouye is displaying the size and physical nature the Texans and other NFL teams covet at the cornerback position.

"I believe I'm a lot more confident," Bouye said. "I got beat a lot and last year I was just worried about what people said, but I just can't let that get to me. This year I have a lot more motivation off the field, there's just certain people I have to take care of. I just know to go out here and compete and help this team and that's what I'm going to keep doing no matter what. Defense, special teams, wherever they need me at."

Bouye started twice and played in 15 games for the AFC South champions last season. Bouye was the Texans' fourth cornerback and had 15 tackles, two interceptions and six passes defended.

Bouye provides the Texans with good depth at cornerback.

"He's a guy that's playing with a lot of confidence," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "He's really taking advantage of his reps. He's gotten better in man-to-man coverage. He's gotten better at his overall technique. He's helped us on special teams. He's worked very hard. He's definitely improved."

After discussing a long-term deal with the Texans before he was assigned a $1.671 million right of first refusal restricted free agent tender, Bouye has made a lot of improvement this offseason and impressed the Texans' coaching staff and his teammates.

Bouye changed his jersey number this offseason to No. 21 after previously wearing No. 34, a homage to Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders.

"21 is my favorite number," he said. "There's a lot of people I look up to, especially Deion Sanders. Just to be able to meet him my rookie year and being able to have No. 21, I just try to represent the number right."

Bouye is a tall, sizable corner at 6-foot, 191 pounds who's put on some bulk in the upper body this offseason.

"Definitely, I went home and worked out a lot," Bouye said. "I probably gained about 10 pounds and got way stronger. That's because of my trainer, staying in the weight room with Fitz (Texans strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald), working with Andre Hal, just keep getting stronger because I know I'm going up against big receivers. I feel I can lift with any of them and I got the same strength. Definitely, I think I got faster, more healthy and I'm staying on top of the body."

Bouye, 24, is entering his fourth NFL season after going undrafted out of Central Florida where he had 110 career tackles and six interceptions and was a second-team All-Conference USA selection.

Bouye has played in 35 games for the Texans with eight career starts. He has registered 68 career tackles, five interceptions and 16 passes defended.

"You come in, you think you know it all and you have a lot of humbling moments," Bouye said. "Even on your bad things, you just have to learn from it. At the time, I was down but I appreciate certain times I got beat--as much I don't want to—because I learned from it and knew the mistakes."