Houston Texans should trade for Janoris Jenkins
The Houston Texans still need some work on their secondary, and making a trade for a player could help greatly as they battle for first place in the AFC South.
There is no secret that the Houston Texans are on the verge of being a team that can make some serious noise in the entire AFC, and after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs and gaining what some say is a statement win, the Texans need to shore up their defense and make a big trade for their secondary. One player who could help there is current New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins.
How one does that will be interesting, as the Texans have already traded their first-round draft picks for the next two years, plus a second-round draft pick in ’21, a third-round pick in ’20 and a sixth-round pick in ’20.
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Houston also has all but their first two rounds of the ’21 NFL Draft picks available. Those picks went away for players like Laremy Tunsil (OT), Kenny Stills (WR) and Duke Johnson (RB). The Texans also traded for running back Carlos Hyde for offensive lineman Martinas Rankin.
Here is what the Texans draft choices look like for ’20 that could be used in a trade:
• 2020
– Round 2
– Round 3 (From Seattle)
– Round 4 (From Miami)
– Round 4
– Round 5
– Round 7
• 2021
• Round 3
• Round 4
• Round 5
• Round 6 (From Miami)
• Round 6
• Round 7
Now, where do the Texans need to improve the most moving forward? The roster spot the Texans need to add to is their secondary, because if we are being honest here, that spot on the defense could use some additional help.
This week, the Jacksonville Jaguars traded cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Los Angeles Rams for draft picks, and before that, the Rams traded cornerback Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens so teams are willing to trade.
Those are just the draft choices available for the next two seasons for the Texans, and they do have some players with expiring contracts in 2020. Those players are Whitney Mercilus (OLB, 29 yers old), Lamar Miller (RB, 28 yards old), Johnathan Joseph (CB, 35 years old), Bradley Roby (CB, 27 years old) and Carlos Hyde (RB, 28 years old), to name just a few players.
Currently, the Texans’ cornerback depth chart consists of Joseph, Lonnie Johnson Jr., Keion Crossen, Roby, Phillip Gaines and Xavier Crawford.
Now the question is would the Giants want a trade for Jenkins? Alexander Wilson of Empire Sports Media wrote the following on Jenkins and what the Giants could hope to get for him in a trade:
"“The most value the Giants could hope to get from Jenkins would be a third-round pick, which can ultimately turn into high value.”"
Looking at the list above, the Texans have a third-round pick available in ’20 from the trade for Jadeveon Clowney this past preseason. That is one pick the Texans could part with and still have five picks available, or the Texans might be able to trade a fourth-round choice in ’20 as well with two available.
According to Spotrac.com, the contract of Jenkins has the rest of this season and next season with a $10 million price tag which would be the final year of the contract. Jenkins would also have a $14.75 million cap hit in ’20.
At 30 years old, Jenkins has eight passes defensed and three interceptions in six games this season. Jenkins already has more interceptions through six games this season than he did all of last season when he had two. In four of the past five seasons, Jenkins has three interceptions in each of those seasons.
As a team this year, the Texans have three interceptions with none from the cornerbacks on the team, so something needs to be done for this franchise to take the next step, even though they sit in second place in the entire AFC, only trailing the Patriots.
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Granted, draft picks hold high value, but if the Texans want to win now, adding a player with the talent of Jenkins would help this franchise and make the defense stronger than it has already been at times this season.