Houston Texans Positional Breakdown: Safety
By Randy Gurzi
Aug 9, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Houston Texans defensive back Eddie Pleasant (35) and linebacker Jeff Tarpinian (52) celebrate after a tackle in the second half against the Arizona Cardinals during a preseason game at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Eddie Pleasant, 5’10” 210 Pounds 26 Years Old
Eddie Pleasant is an undrafted player out of Oregon, about to enter his fourth season in the NFL, all with the Houston Texans. He obviously shows traits that the team is high on to have lasted throughout the safety purge over the last couple of seasons.
Some Background Info;
Pleasant played linebacker and safety while a member of Oregon and showed some real tackling ability. His best season was his final year when he had 61 tackles, one sack, three interceptions and deflected 11 passes.
In his sophomore season of 2009 he had four and a half sacks and finished his collegiate career with seven and a half sacks and 15 tackles for a loss. Pleasant has the ability to be an in the box safety and with only Stevie Brown and Rahim Moore currently ahead of him on the depth chart, he has a very huge opportunity to earn some serious playing time.
What To Expect This Year;
If Pleasant can show his knack for getting in the backfield and causing some problems for opponents, he could find himself in the hunt for the starting strong safety job. This is the perfect season for him to compete for such a spot as bot Brown and Moore are more of the free safety caliber, as is the rookie Drummond.
Pleasant will probably play a good bit on rushing downs considering he is the better tackler of the safeties. Against teams like Indianapolis that throw a much higher percentage of the time, Pleasant will most likely be used only as a special teams player.
After recording only six tackles in 2014, I expect to see Pleasant surpass that total very early for the Texans and could be a potential dark horse player to breakout for Houston.
Jul 28, 2014; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive back Josh Aubrey (37) during training camp at Cleveland Browns training facility. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Josh Aubrey, 5’10” 207 Pounds 24 Years Old
Josh Aubrey is another undrafted guy, originally picked up by Cleveland in 2013. In 2014 he had a quick stint during the preseason with Seattle, then wound up in Houston.
Some Background Info;
The small-school player from Stephen F. Austin appeared in two games for the Texans last season and only six the year before in Cleveland. He has one career tackle, which came for Cleveland in 2013.
What To Expect This Year;
Aubrey is purely a depth piece, but that could be important for Houston because behind their top two guys, there is a lot of inexperience and question marks. However, don’t look for Aubrey to provide much more than a guy ready to go in case of an injury, and if the team sees a player released during roster cut downs that they like at safety, Aubry will probably be the first of these players to be let go.