Houston Texans: P.J. Hall is needed for defensive line in 2020

The Houston Texans will be adding more depth to their defensive line with P.J. Hall reaching a deal with the franchise.

The Houston Texans are adding some solid depth to the defensive line late in the week as the agent of P.J. Hall announced the signing of the defensive lineman to the franchise as the Texans continue to work on filling spots in the depth chart, especially on the interior defensive line.

Houston is still finalizing their roster as they are in the midst of training camp, and this year at defensive tackle things are different without D.J. Reader, who is now a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

One of Reader’s replacement is rookie second-round pick Ross Blacklock, while the defensive tackle depth chart also consists of Brandon Dunn and rookie Auzoyah Alufohai. Eddie Vanderdoes will miss this season as he opted out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

P.J. Hall, on the other hand, is a former second-round pick, and during his two seasons with the former Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders, Hall made 18 starts and played in a total of 30 games. While a member of their defense, Hall had two passes defensed, 1.5 sacks, 34 solo tackles, eight tackles for loss and even seven QB hits.

In a closer look at his playing time, P.J. Hall is coming off a 2019 season where he played in 551 snaps, which was 53 percent of the Raiders’ snaps on defense a season ago. The previous year, as a rookie, Hall played in 511 snaps, which equaled 50 percent of the snaps on defense that season.

Houston Texans News: P.J. Hall was needed on the defensive line

This signing of Hall helps the rotation of the defensive tackles in a great way. Though it didn’t work out with Hall and the Raiders, now the Texans have a former second-round pick who doesn’t have to be the standout and is still young in his career. Hall is still just 25 years old, as he was selected 57th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Now where Hall was drafted doesn’t mean a whole lot to the Houston Texans, but what does matter is at one time, the Raiders thought there was enough talent and potential with Hall to select him that high in the draft.

It is now time for the Houston Texans to see if they can bring out the best in Hall for 2020, a season that sees the Texans having a new defensive coordinator in Anthony Weaver, who was the Texans’ defensive line coach for four seasons.

This signing of Hall — when it becomes official — will be good for the Texans. Hall should be able to fit in and be a solid part of the tackle rotation as Blacklock learns how to play at the NFL level his rookie season.

The Houston Texans knew they needed to become better in the interior defensive line, and being less than a month before the regular season kicks off — and having no preseason games — the addition of Hall makes the Texans a better defense with him than without him for the 2020 NFL season.