Houston Texans: Albert Huggins returns to add D-line depth

The Houston Texans brought back Albert Huggins as they added him to the roster via the wavier wire.

If you remember the name Albert Huggins, get ready to know it a little more, as the Houston Texans added the defensive lineman off waivers this week to add some depth to the defensive line. Huggins was with the Texans during training camp last year but eventually landed with the the Philadelphia Eagles and later the New England Patriots.

Huggins never played a regular-season game with the Houston Texans in 2019 as he was an undrafted free agent added to the roster, but he was a member of the practice squad for Houston before the Eagles selected him off that roster and added him to their franchise.

In bringing back Huggins, the 6’3″, 305-pound Huggins does have a little regular-season experience as he played in four games with the Eagles last season as a rookie, where he collected three tackles in four games.

Coming out of college where Huggins played for the Clemson Tigers, Joe Marino of The Draft Network wrote a very detailed profile on Huggins and had the following to say about Huggins when he was eligible to be drafted in 2019:

"“Huggins is an appealing prospect because of his power at the point of attack and how he eats space, consumes blocks and keeps the linebacker free … Huggins is likely to be an early down rotational player at the next level.”"

As for Huggins now, he’s listed as a defensive end in the Texans’ announcement of rejoining the team, and that now puts him in a depth chart with J.J. Watt, Angelo Blackson, Charles Omenihu, Brandon Dunn and Carlos Watkins, so that is also a talented group of defensive ends he’ll be competing with in training camp.

One plus about adding Albert Huggins is he’s been a part of defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver’s defense, as Weaver has been a part of the Texans defensive coaching staff under former coordinator Romeo Crennel when Huggins first joined the Texans.

Huggins isn’t going to be the top defensive end choice for the Texans in 2020, but he does have a good chance to make the roster in 2020 with the two extra game day spots this season, and the fact he’ll be a little ahead of where he was last season with some NFL experience and knowing how the Texans run their defense.

Huggins is a nice addition at this time of the season when teams are entering training camp, and this is a good opportunity to see how much he’s improved over this time a season ago.

Now it is time for Huggins to impress the Houston Texans enough for them to keep him on their roster — which Huggins is talented enough to do — so he doesn’t get the uncertainty of being on the practice squad and repeating what happened a season ago.