Houston Texans: Aaron Colvin working his way back on defense

Houston Texans’ cornerback Aaron Colvin could be primed for snaps on defense moving forward.

Houston Texans’ general manager, Brian Gaine, and the coaching staff made it a priority to retool the secondary during the offseason. Gaine successfully pried Aaron Colvin away from the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency with a four-year $34 million deal with $18 million guaranteed.

Despite a strong start to the regular season, Colvin was injured in Week 4 against the Indianapolis Colts, and he was sidelined for the next seven weeks with an ankle injury. Colvin returned in Week 11, but he faced a dilemma as the Texans had found some success and much-needed chemistry with their rotation in the secondary. Texans faced a lot of turnover in the secondary this season due to injuries.

More from Toro Times

• Houston Texans: Can Sean Payton really be the next head coach?
• Houston Texans Draft: Michael Mayer should be a no doubter at pick 12
• Houston Texans already telling fans the Davis Mills era is over
• Houston Texans have hand forced, waste no time in firing Lovie Smith
• Houston Texans: Pros and Cons of keeping Head Coach Lovie Smith

Texans’ secondary started with Johnathan Joseph, Kevin Johnson, Aaron Colvin, Kayvon Webster, Johnson Bademosi, Natrell Jamerson, Tyrann Mathieu, Kareem Jackson, Justin Reid, and A.J. Moore. However, a series of concussions landed Johnson on the IR and the team placed Webster on the IR with a quadriceps injury. (Webster is designated to return from the IR). Jamerson was waived for the arrival of cornerback Deante Burton and Shareece Wright was signed to replace Johnson’s absence.

Reid’s revelation as a rookie at safety forced the Texans to move Jackson to cornerback due to the fact that it became a position of need. Then when Colvin got hurt it put him behind from a developmental and chemistry standpoint with the defense. The Texans decided to roll with Wright as the new boundary cornerback and Jackson was lined up as the slot cornerback.

The issue with the Texans electing to keep Jackson in the slot was that Colvin was brought in to play that position. However, Wright’s struggles in the past weeks have opened the door for Colvin to get some snaps in the defense. Colvin saw some action late against the Jets as after Wright surrendered a touchdown in back to back weeks. Colvin came up with one of the most important plays in the game as he sealed the win for the team with a pass breakup in the waning seconds of the game.

Colvin had been relegated mostly to special teams since returning back from injury. The first four games of the season, all his snaps came on defense, but since Week 11 he has seen 19 special teams snaps and 53 defensive snaps. It remains to be seen if Colvin will be seeing an uptick in snaps as the boundary cornerback or if the Texans will incorporate him back to the slot, but Colvin’s talent and contract make it unreasonable to keep him in a reserve role.