Houston Texans really whiffed on not signing K.J. Wright

Nick Caserio’s inability to sign K.J. Wright stings badly.

It was almost three weeks ago that I wrote about “5 free agents that would be instant starters” for the Houston Texans. One of them was former Seattle Seahawks linebacker, K.J. Wright. When the news broke yesterday that Wright was going to join the Las Vegas Raiders of all teams it sure felt as if the Texans missed out on a chance to seriously upgrade their defense.

Think about it. Here’s a Super Bowl champion and 1x Pro Bowl linebacker sitting in free agency for months. What’s not known is if the Texans made an offer, but Las Vegas’ only pull was their defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley. Bradley returned to being a defensive coordinator after bottoming out as an NFL head coach.

While Zach Cunningham was one of the league’s best tacklers last season and Christian Kirksey being an okay player the last few seasons,(minus the two 100+ tackle seasons, those are basically outliers) Wright could have truly solidified the second level of the defense.

Texans can still improve LB depth without K.J. Wright

Another option for the Houston Texans after missing out on K.J. Wright is to bring in former Jets, Titans, and Steelers linebacker Avery Williamson. Williamson just edged out Cunningham in leading the league in tackles last season.

If there’s anything that could replicate what Defensive Coordinator Lovie Smith did with the 2004-06 Chicago Bears, it would be the fact of having a dynamic linebacking duo to lead the defense onto the field. Williamson has also had one interception in each of the last three seasons, so he could potentially even excel in pass coverage for the Texans.

This defense has the chance to be one of the better units in the league. Adding Williamson would help that effort.