Grading the Houston Texans biggest moves in free agency so far this year

It's easy to forget that, technically, NFL free agency starts on Wednesday.

Even though teams can't officially sign players until the new league year begins on Wednesday afternoon, the last 48 hours of been a spending frenzy thanks to the 'legal tampering' period that the NFL allots teams. The Texans started the week making a few notable moves, but waited until Tuesday evening for their biggest swing yet – signing former Vikings star defensive lineman Danielle Hunter to a two-year, $49 million deal. And even though there figures to be more moves over the next few days and weeks, the primary wave of top-tier free agent signings have, at this point, mostly come and gone. So how have the Texans done so far?

Let's hand out some grades.

Grading the Houston Texans free agent moves so far

Danielle Hunter, DE, Vikings

Deal: Two-years, $49 million
Grade: A

It was a move that almost made too much sense. Despite already adding to the pass rush this offseason (which we'll get to in a bit), the Texans still needed an impact rusher to put alongside Will Anderson. Enter Hunter, who's coming off a season that saw him put up career-highs in sacks, QB hits, and tackles for loss.

He'll be an immediate impact player for Houston, and depending how you feel about Anderson's development, figures to be their best pass-rusher – at least for the early part of the year. On the surface the deal makes sense, too: it's a lot of guaranteed money for a defensive end turning 30, but at only two years, it's nothing the Texans can't work around.

Denico Autry, DE, Titans

Deal: Two-years, $20 million
Grade: B-

Before the Texans signed Hunter, it looked for a bit there like they were happy to roll with Anderson and Autry, who's been one of the league's more underrated players throughout his 10-year career in Oakland, Indianapolis, and Tennessee.

Hunter's not the only one coming to Houston off a career-best year: last season, at 33 years old, Autry had a career-best 11.5 sacks and 50 total tackles. Durability's been an issue for Autry throughout his career, although he's played in double digit games in five of the last six seasons (never a full season, however). Pass-rushing depth is never a bad thing, but rolling the dice with decent-sized money on a 34-year old who's dealt with a fair share of injuries certainly has some disaster potential.