The Houston Texans want to add to their pass rush, but would Vic Beasley be the right player to make that improvement via trade?
Looking at various NFL trade rumors, the Houston Texans could be in talks to possibly add to their defense, especially with the season-ending torn pectoral injury to J.J. Watt, who has not played a full season in three of the past four years.
Being the Texans are without their top pass rusher from here on out, they have a variety of ways to add to the roster. The Texans could look at free agency, or they could trade for a defensive end/pass rusher.
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One player possibly available is Vic Beasley of the Atlanta Falcons. The Texans could trade a seventh round pick for him as Atlanta is having issues trading the defensive end/outside linebacker.
Beasley’s lack of production on the field this season compared to some of his past seasons is a big issue, plus his salary for the rest of the season is a bit expensive for that overall play.
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report wrote the following on Monday about Beasley and a trade scenario:
"“The idea that Atlanta valued Beasley more as a negotiation tactic than as a player is not going to strengthen his trade market. At this point, it feels like the Falcons will be lucky to get a late Day-3 draft pick for Beasley—if they can move him at all.”"
Beasley’s best season in the league came in 2016 where he broke out for 15.5 sacks, and two passes defensed. Since then he’s had back-to-back seasons of five sacks in 2017-18, and this season through eight games Beasley has 19 combined tackles, 1.5 sacks and one pass defensed.
One more thing on Falcons' thus-far failed attempts to trade Vic Beasley: Team would be willing to pay part of Beasley's remaining 2019 salary if they could deal him, even though NFL doesn't like that sort of thing. But no takers yet anyway.
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) October 23, 2019
The part of those above stats that is worrisome is the decline in sacks, as 1.5 sacks on a team that is 1-7 doesn’t make one extremely excited to make a trade. Beasley hasn’t had a sack since the second and third games of the season, and his last QB hit was also in Week 3. For ’19, Beasley has five QB hits, and in the past three games he’s really had nothing at all show up on the stat sheet.
Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com quoted Beasley last week about a possible “change of scenery”
"“If they feel like I need a fresh start, that’s understandable,” Beasley told reporters. “But I feel like the team here, the players here, are definitely capable. We’re the same collective guys that went to the Super Bowl a few years ago.”"
If the Texans were to even take a chance on Beasley, nothing more than a sixth round pick (which would have to be a 2021 pick) would be worth the risk. Most likely a seventh round pick would be enough as the Texans still have that pick available for 2020.
At this point of the season with the Texans are 5-3 overall and still in a very tough battle in the AFC South — no team has record below .500 — so some sort of move needs to be made. Whether that move be trading for Beasley, looking into free agency or trading for someone else, Houston would be smart to add a player before the trade deadline.
Beasley showed a few years before he has the talent and ability to be a special player when he had the 15.5 sacks in ’16. The big question is can he get back to being that type of player, or was that just a one-year thing?
Houston has very little to lose if they could get Beasley for a seventh round choice. With the way things are for them on defense right now, adding a possible pass rusher couldn’t make the situation any worse, especially if the Falcons would pay for a portion of Beasley’s remaining contract, which is a possibility too.