Houston Texans: Deshaun Watson and 3 more unknowns in ’21

2. Justin Reid returning to past success

One player who many have put the spotlight on for improvement from last season is safety Justin Reid. The free safety didn’t have his best season in ’20, but this is a whole new season, and a new Houston Texans defense, too.

In ’18 as a rookie, Reid had three interceptions, and in his second season during ’19, Reid finished with two interceptions. Then came ’20 where Reid had zero interceptions for the Houston Texans, and that leads him to his contract year of ’21 on a rebuilding defensive unit.

Reid wasn’t the only player who didn’t have his best season in ’20 for the Texans, but his stands out a lot because of how important he has become to the Texans having success and winning games.

Reid didn’t have a fumble recovery in ’20, which is something he achieved in his first two NFL seasons, and he had just four passes defensed, compared to five in ’19 and 10 in his rookie season.

The overall grade from Pro Football Focus in ’20 for Justin Reid was 60.7, which was a drop from 76.7 in ’19, and 75.2 in ’18.

The prediction here for Justin Reid is he will have a better season with new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith and his Tampa 2 defense. There was a lot of issues with the Texans’ defense in ’20, and this is a excellent time for Reid to bounce back from his woes of ’20 with an improvement in his run defense and pass coverage.

Again, Reid is needed big-time for the Houston Texans defense to have success, and he has a great opportunity in his fourth NFL season to become the leader of the defense in Houston, while also earning a good contract in the process.