Houston Texans 53-man roster prediction: Defense and Special Teams

The Houston Texans will have a lot of tough decisions to make to narrow down the roster to 53 players.

It is now time for the Houston Texans to make their final decisions on who will stay and who will be asked to turn in their playbook for the defensive side of the ball and also for the special teams. The preseason is finally complete with the Texans going 3-1, but they still have some questions that need to be answered.

One of those questions is which players are staying on the defensive side of roster? Listed below are predictions for which defensive players will be kept for the start of the regular season.

Defensive Line (6)

Defensive End: J.J. Watt, Christian Covington, Angelo Blackson, Carlos Watkins

Nose Tackle: D.J. Reader, Brandon Dunn

The Texans are a better team since they’ve improved their talent in the trenches. This is one of the deeper positions on the roster and the team could be losing out on an above average defensive rotational player. Joel Heath could easily be on this list but his health has been an issue in the past.

Outside Linebackers (4)

Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus, Brennan Scarlett, Duke Ejiofor

Not on a whole lot of surprise in this group as the Texans have plenty of quality depth at this spot. Ejiofor has played well enough as a rookie to beat out Ufomba Kamalu and Peter Kalambayi for the fourth and final roster spot.

Inside Linebackers (5)

Benardrick McKinney, Zach Cunningham, Dylan Cole, Brian Peters, Josh Keyes

Another deep position group in the Texans defense are the inside linebackers. They have a lot of quality players at this position. Keyes seems to have beaten out Kennan Gilchrist for the fifth and final spot. He has proven he can play in a pinch for the defense and he has shown he can contribute on special teams.

Cornerbacks (5)

Jonathan Joseph, Kevin Johnson, Aaron Colvin, Kayvon Webster, Johnson Bademosi

There aren’t any surprises in this group as well. Joseph was brought into the fold after being a free agent this offseason while Colvin, Webster and Bademosi were all brought during this offseason and were expected to make the team. The only player that is worth a flyer in the future is Andre Chachere as he has raised a few eyebrows throughout the preseason with his play.

Safeties (5)

Tyrann Mathieu, Kareem Jackson, Justin Reid, Kurtis Drummond, Treston Decoud

The Texans are rolling will have almost an entirely new group of safeties on the roster with the exception of special teams ace, Drummond. Decoud beats out Corey Moore for the fifth and final roster spot. It’s a numbers game and the Texans have more invested in Decoud than Moore. Decoud is in his first year as a safety rather than Moore who is in his fourth year as a safety in the NFL.

Special Teams (3):

Punter: Trevor Daniel

Kicker: Kaimi Fairbairn

Long Snapper: Jon Weeks

The biggest surprise on special teams is rookie punter Daniel beating Shane Lechler for the punting duties. O’Brien has told the media that there was a serious competition between both punters and Daniel has outplayed Lechler in the preseason. The experience could win out but Daniel has had a better preseason than Lechler.