Texans: 4 former players who could come out of retirement and still play

3. Houston Texans: Brian Cushing, LB

It is time for Brian Cushing to stop being a strength coach for the Houston Texans and give them one final season on the field, as he is still in his early 30s at 33 years old. Cushing most likely has some gas left in the tank, and he could be a nice role player on the roster as the defense continues to improve.

Though he has a couple suspensions in his career while with the Houston Texans, Cushing played very hard, gave the game all he had, and his intensity is missed greatly on the Houston defense.

Cushing last played in the NFL in 2017, as all nine of his NFL seasons were with the Texans, and he started in all 104 games played with the franchise. In that time, he had eight interceptions as an inside linebacker, one touchdown, 30 passes defensed, 13.5 sacks, 42 tackles for loss, 424 solo tackles and 57 QB hits.

In five games in 2017 — which were his final games — Cushing had 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss and two QB hits to go with his eight solo tackles. Again, like his former teammate Daniels in this scenario, Cushing wouldn’t be the starter, but it is all about his veteran leadership in this 2020 season as there could be a lot of unknowns headed to the NFL with the current pandemic situation.

Having a veteran like Cushing back for a season would be helpful, not destroy the defense, and he could mentor the younger players to become better players themselves. Though it is doubtful he’d return to playing live games, it is still fun to ponder the possibility it could happen.