When discussing the Houston Texans defense a few familiar names always come up first. J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus and Brian Cushing just to name a few. However there is a player who is often overlooked when discussing the Texans defense. Nose tackle D.J. Reader.
To be fair, Reader is a nose tackle. This is not a glamorous position by any means. As a result very few become household names. Former Texans nose tackle Vince Wilfork is a perfect example of this. There was a time when Wilfork was the name among nose tackles. Wilfork spent two seasons in Houston before deciding to retire. Luckily for the Texans they found a suitable replacement in Reader.
Houston selected Reader in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. After spending most of a season backing up Wilfork, Reader has come into his own and became a force in the middle of the Houston defense. Pro Football Focus grades Reader as the 22nd overall interior defender with a grade of above average.
The impact of interior defensive lineman is that their impact goes beyond personal numbers. Reader’s 47 total tackles and one sack last season is a perfect example of this. It becomes even more difficult when a team runs a 3-4 base defense, which Houston does. Like Wilfork before him, Reader’s primary role is to take on offensive lineman to allow others to make plays.
It can be argued that Reader has an impact on each and every play that he is in the game for. As long as Reader can take on more than one blocker, it allows others in the Texans front seven to make plays. It allows linebackers and defensive ends to apply pressure to the quarterback. It makes the coverage easier for the secondary players. In an unexpected way, Reader is truly the center of the Texans defense.