Jahleel Addae is a ‘good addition’ to Houston Texans roster
The Houston Texans have rebuilt their secondary this offseason, and one of the players added has been safety Jahleel Addae.
This offseason, the Houston Texans said goodbye to a few faces from the secondary, but they’ve also welcomed veteran safety Jahleel Addae to the mix and he brings a sense of leadership and a new way of looking at the secondary as it could be improved from last season.
Addae brings six years of experience with him to the Texans, as those previous six seasons come from playing for the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, where he played 80 regular-season games, including all 16 games in each of the past two seasons.
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In 2018, Addae totaled 75 tackles with 52 of those being solo tackles. He also had one sack, one fumble recovery, one interception and even three passes defensed. Even with those respectable numbers, he’s still not going to have to be the leader of the secondary, but will need to make his presence felt in other ways.
According to the June depth chart from OurLads.com, Addae will be the second free safety on the roster behind second-year player Justin Reid, who had a stellar rookie season.
Earlier this week, Texans head coach Bill O’Brien spoke highly of the addition of Addae because of the experience he brings, as stated in transcripts provided by HoustonTexans.com:
"“Jahleel has been a really good addition so far into our locker room, on our field. He’s a competitive guy. He’s a smart guy. He’s played a lot of football in this league. He’s, in many ways, come up the hard way in this league, and he’s been a good addition so far.”"
The Texans need players who do all the hard work, who are professional and do their job without seeking the spotlight. In his career, Addae has played in 80 regular season games, and in all but one season he has played in double-digit games.
Two seasons ago, Addae had seven passes defensed, so he does have the ability to play excellent in coverage, and he’s forced a fumble in two of the past three seasons.
When he was released by the Chargers after six seasons, Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com wrote Addae “thrived as a box safety.”
Pro Football Focus last season graded Addae at 60.1 overall with his coverage grade at 58.3 and his run defense mark at 62.0. Addae’s run pass rush grade came in at 84.1, playing in a total of 1,151 snaps.
Depending on what his role will be with the Texans in 2019, he might not have to be playing that many snaps, but he could also battle for a strong safety role if he is a good fit there with the competition being free agent signing Tashaun Gipson, Briean Boddy-Calhoun and AJ Hendy.
The Texans made a good decision when they added Addae to the roster. He’s not going to take over a game, and he’s not going to be the star of the defense.
Even though Addae does have the ability to be a very good role player, don’t count out the former undrafted free agent because he’s been battling strong his entire career, and he’s going to make the secondary of the Texans better in one way or another this upcoming season.
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