The Houston Texans offensive line is undergoing some changes from last season and on the first day of training camp they have started to experiment with their lineman to find who fits best where. Today tackle Jeff Adams has spent some time at left guard for Houston, per Deepi Sidhu of the team’s official website.
O'Brien on Jeff Adams taking reps at LG: We're mixing and matching with our o-line. #TexansCamp
— Deepi Sidhu (@DeepSlant) August 1, 2015
Adams, a 6’5″ 307 pound 25 year-old, has bounced around several practice squads after being undrafted out of Columbia in 2012. He was originally a member of the Dallas Cowboys, but was cut before the 2012 season started and wound up on the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad for part of that year. He also spent time with the Miami Dolphins practice squad.
In 2013 he was a part of the Tennessee Titans practice squad for the whole year. After being picked up by the Texans last season Adams finally made his NFL debut in December and played in the final two games.
Second year guard Xavier Su’a-Filo is slated to be the starter at left guard and Ben Jones, who manned the spot last year is the favorite to be the starting center this season. Adams working at guard is most likely just the staff trying to find some versatility with their young lineman rather than an indictment on Su’a-Filo, who was slow to progress in his rookie season.
Even if the move wasn’t about Su’a-Filo it would help if someone like Adams is able to perform well at guard and give the team a contingency plan should the second round selection’s development continue to be less than desirable.