The 20 best linebackers in the history of the Houston Texans

The Houston Texans remain the youngest team with the least history in the NFL. Picking the 20 best at any position would be hard, and it's especially hard here.

The linebacker spot is the quarterback position of the defense. They're usually the ones calling plays, getting guys into position, and adapting on the fly. Linebackers can be run-stuffers, pass-deflectors, or quarterback-pursuers; it's all just up to what the defense needs on that play.

The Texans' linebacker corps, like many other positions, lacks significant depth. The crew has five or six great options, and we're splitting hairs over the rest, all of whom are subject to plenty of debate.

Criteria for selection

It's important to remember the Houston Texans are only 22 years old. They are the youngest team in the NFL and have the least amount of history to pull from. That means some qualifications and determinations are going to be iffy at best. This is a team still finding its history. So it's important to remember that concepts like NFL records, Pro Bowls, and the like aren't going to be factors in this case.

Only four linebackers in franchise history have earned a Pro Bowl nod, so we have to dive deeper into the history of the team to find those who stand out the most. That means tackles, sacks, pass deflections, plays that resulted in turnovers, games played, games started, and the like will be factored in.

Houston has also often moved from a 3-4 to a 4-3 base defense. Due to that, defensive ends have become linebackers, and linebackers have become defensive ends. If a player has been listed as a linebacker more often than a defensive end, he'll be counted as a linebacker, and vice versa. Keep that in mind for a few names who made more of an impact as an outside linebacker than as a defensive end.

The top 20 linebackers in Houston Texans history

20. Brennan Scarlett

For a backup, you can't do much better than Brennan Scarlett.

He stayed in Houston from 2016 to 2020, playing in 56 games and starting 22. Those aren't huge numbers, but he was an undrafted player out of Stanford who ended up having a pretty solid career. During his time with the Texans, he put up 139 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. He also forced three fumbles and picked off one pass.

One day, Scarlett will be replaced, but he's a solid No. 20 for a franchise that's just 22 years old.

19. Christian Harris

The newest player on the list is Christian Harris. Entering his third season in 2024, he has already been pretty up-and-down.

His rookie year was a disaster, and many thought he shouldn't even see Year 2 given how poorly he played. However, Year 2 went a lot better. He was an average, mediocre player, but that's a massive upgrade over how he played as a rookie.

Harris is already putting up some nice stats with 175 combined tackles in 28 games (23 starts), and he has shown a nose for getting to guys in the backfield. Currently, he has a career total of 13 tackles for loss, and that number will only go up. He should rise in these rankings if and when he puts together a truly good season.

18. Antwan Peek

One of the early players for the Houston Texans, Antwan Peek joined the squad in 2003. He was a third-round pick out of Cincinnati and saw a lot of action in Year 1. He started in four games and played in 10 total, showing a decent aptitude for the NFL.

Peek had his best season in 2005. He started every game and racked up 45 total tackles, as well as a career-high sack total of six. However, he was unable to repeat that success and was out of the league soon after.

Still, there's a chance Peek isn't done with the Texans despite being in his 40s. His son, Antwan Peek Jr., is now at Cincinnati and may one day end up in the NFL.

17. Kevin Bentley

Kevin Bentley was a solid player for the Houston Texans. Largely a backup, the former Cleveland Browns draftee played in 45 games for the franchise, starting 15. He combined for 133 total tackles between 2008 and 2010, where he, at times, showed some real skills.

He wasn't much of a playmaker but was an efficient tackler — a skill that helped him stay in the league for a decade. So clearly, he wasn't too shabby. Still, his lack of pass-coverage skills and pass-rushing ability did hold him back. It's why he struggled to maintain a starting position.

16. DaShon Polk

As with Kevin Bentley, DaShon Polk was mostly a backup during his three-year stint in Houston. He arrived in 2004 and left in 2006, ending his career with the Texans.

Despite playing in 42 games, he only started 15, 11 of which came in 2005 when he had a career-high 94 combined tackles and a career-high 3.5 sacks. He finished second on the team that season, and it ended up being the best season of his career. It's safe to say he outplayed any and every combined season he had in Buffalo with that one-year outing in 2005.

Polk couldn't keep up the production, however, and was out of the league not long after.

15. Blake Cashman

Two seasons was enough time for Blake Cashman to make the list. The former New York Jet spent just two years in Houston (2022-23), starting 14 games in Year 2 and totaling over 130 total tackles in his time with the club. While most of that came in Year 2, the previous season wasn't without success as he posted a career-high three sacks.

He's proven to be one of the more impressive short-term players the team has had in recent memory, and his loss will be felt. Not only was he a sure-fire tackler, but he was also excellent against the pass.

14. Zach Diles

Zach Diles shouldn't have had the career he had. A seventh-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, he played for eight seasons, most of which were with the team that drafted him.

From 2007 to 2010, Diles was a solid starter for Houston. He saw action in 51 games, starting a majority of them (30). He racked up 225 combined tackles in those four years, culminating in a career-high 82 in 2010. He didn't have a long — or even memorable — tenure with the club, but it's hard to ask for much more from a seventh-round pick.

13. Christian Kirksey

Christian Kirksey only played for the Houston Texans in 2021 and 2022. In that time, he racked up 217 combined tackles, including 124 in 2022. The defense wasn't good during his tenure, however. As impressive as his stats were across 30 games (29 starts), the defense around him wasn't impressive and gave him lots of tackle opportunities even though he was often a half-step too slow.

A true standout in his heyday with the Cleveland Browns, he didn't have the same pop he once had, and it showed. Kirksey, however, was still a good-enough tackler that once he stuck someone, they were going down. While he was far from the same playmaker, he was still a respectable player on a bad unit.

12. Jay Foreman

Jay Foreman came to the Houston Texans from the Buffalo Bills in the summer of 2002. He was a 250-pound inside linebacker who thrived in that era of football. A true run-stopper if there ever was one, Foreman became the Texans' go-to guy for filling up the center of the offense.

He and Jamie Sharper became a hard tag-team to get around or through, in part due to Foreman's ability to clog the gaps. While he wasn't a total package and left after the 2004 season, his time was memorable as he compiled 358 total tackles.

11. Connor Barwin

Had Connor Barwin stayed with the Houston Texans, he'd likely rank much higher. He was a starter by the end of his four-year stint (2009-12) and was a double-digit sack guy in the making. He had 11.5 in 2011, his first year as a linebacker with the team, and ended up totaling 19 sacks during his Texans tenure — a fraction of the 56.5 career sacks he recorded throughout his 10-year career.

While his time with the Texans was brief, he played a major role in their 2011 turnaround season. After all, it was their first time in the playoffs. Barwin had a big hand in that.

10. Brooks Reed

A defensive end at Arizona, Brooks Reed was selected by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft and moved to linebacker. The team wanted to bolster its defense and made him its second pick after grabbing J.J. Watt first. The back-to-back moves paid off, and the Texans had a solid defense going forward.

Reed didn't spend a lot of his career in Houston, though. He lasted from 2011 to 2014 before taking a new deal with the Atlanta Falcons. Yet during his four seasons in Houston, he put up some solid numbers and played even better ball.

During his tenure, he started 52 of his 60 games, racked up 169 total tackles (25 for loss) and had 14.5 sacks. He also proved to be a solid pass-defender, compiling 11 pass deflections during his career in Houston.

9. Kailee Wong

In 2002, the Houston Texans hit it big. While we'll talk about the expansion draft in a later entry, first we have to talk about its free-agency haul. Kailee Wong was a huge signing for the fledgling team. With Houston in need of some standouts on defense, the former Minnesota Viking left the north and came to the expansion club to take on a huge role.

He was a core player for the Texans after signing and spent the rest of his career with the club. From 2002 to 2006, he was one of the most reliable players. He started every game in his first three years before injuries caught up to him in 2005. During that stretch, he averaged about 60 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 11 pass deflections per season.

He was one of the best all-around players the Texans ever had, most of all in the early, lean years of the club.

8. Zach Cunningham

One of the few active players in the league still who make the list, Zach Cunningham was a true standout for a bad era of Texans teams. Playing for the squad from 2017 to 2021, Cunningham proved himself on the inside for the Texans. He currently ranks second all-time in single-season tackles with 164, just two shy of the record (more on that later). In all four full seasons, he never had fewer than 90 total tackles, and three times he broke the 100-tackle mark.

In 2020, the year he had 164 total tackles, he also had 101 solo stops —  one of the best single-season marks in franchise history. After 2020, however, he got traded to the Tennessee Titans and was hampered by injuries before moving on to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Currently, Cunningham is a free agent. At just 29 years old and coming off of a solid year with the Eagles, his playing days may not be over just yet.

7. Morlon Greenwood

He may have just been a member of the team from 2005 to 2008, but Morlon Greenwood was a highly effective linebacker. Starting 57 of a potential 63 games, he recorded an impressive 387 combined tackles in just four seasons. He further proved his effectiveness as a tackler by registering 15 tackles for loss.

Yet, it was his affinity in the passing game — or, more appropriately, against the passing game — that saw him shine. Greenwood was a good linebacker against the run, but against the pass, he was downright Pro Bowl-caliber. He was a great player to have when you were worried about tight ends releasing off the line or running backs coming out of the backfield, as he had the speed to close out on them and cut off passing lanes.

He showed his effectiveness against other offenses by deflecting his fair share of passes, with 15 across his time in Houston. His best season was arguably 2005, when he had seven deflections.

6. Jamie Sharper

For some of us, the summer of 2002 wasn't that long ago. It was the team's inaugural season, and no prior expansion team had access to the resources the Texans had in 2002. So many Pro Bowl-caliber talents were available to them in their 19-round expansion draft, including future Hall of Famer Tony Boselli and future Pro Bowlers Aaron Glenn and Gary Walker.

Yet, it was Jamie Sharper who everyone had their eyes on.

A former Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens, Sharper came in and cemented himself as the team's best defensive player — dare I say the team's best player — for several years. From 2002 to 2004, he was incredible. He had a combined 166 tackles in 2003, a number that, to this day, remains the franchise record.

In all three seasons with the team, he put up 11.5 sacks — a more than respectable number considering he was the left inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense, a spot that usually doesn't see a lot of blitzing. While Sharper's play didn't lead to too many wins, one can't deny that his three-year run is as good as any linebacker's in club history.

5. Benardrick McKinney

If he were in any other era, Benardrick McKinney would be a much more talked-about player. For fans who were around in his heyday, however, his impact is still being felt. From 2015 to 2020, he was one of the better defensive players the club had. He had three seasons of 100-plus combined tackles and had four seasons of 95-plus tackles.

He was among the better linebackers the team had, which resulted in him starting 77 of 80 games, putting together a run that included 530 combined tackles for his tenure, and finishing fourth in club history with 35 tackles for loss. All of that production paid off as he was picked for the 2018 Pro Bowl and the 2016 All-Pro Second Team, becoming one of the rare linebackers in Texans history to achieve both feats.

Injuries and declining play coupled to cut his run short. Despite signing a $50 million deal in 2018, he was on a new team by 2021 and out of the league by 2022. Still only 31 years old as of 2024, McKinney will forever remain one of the biggest "what-ifs" in the history of the franchise.

4. Jadeveon Clowney

This is admittedly a controversial selection. Not because Jadeveon Clowney never fully lived up to his hype (he didn't) or because there are guys with better stats behind him (there are). No, this is controversial because Clowney, unlike everyone else on this list, plays a different position. Depending on the need, scheme, and base defense, Clowney is either an outside linebacker or a defensive end.

It's why some may be a bit perplexed as to why Clowney is on this list. Yet in four of his five seasons in Houston, he was listed as an outside linebacker. So, because that was his primary position, that's what we're grading him as. He wasn't exactly a tackling machine, only ninth among linebackers in solo tackles, but he made the most of his time as a pass-rushing nightmare.

From 2014 through 2018, Clowney became one of the best pass-rushers in Texans history, racking up 29 sacks and three Pro Bowls in that period. He also registered 64 tackles for loss, proving he was an equally talented run-stopper. Wherever he went, he was credited with raising his team's defensive efficacy against opposing teams' running games.

His stats were never outrageous. He's never hit double-digit sacks. But his play was always impactful.

3. DeMeco Ryans

DeMeco Ryans is the current head coach of the Houston Texans, but before he was, he was one heck of a linebacker. The all-time franchise leader in solo tackles, he was a stalwart on the team from 2006-11, making him the first true home-grown defensive star for the club. He won the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2006 and then followed it up with a first-team All-Pro nod in 2007.

He further cemented his legacy as one of the best by attending two Pro Bowls. Considering he had 479 solo tackles and 636 total tackles in his Texans career, it's not surprising to see him as high as he is.

Had he not left for the Philadelphia Eagles after six years in Houston, he would likely be at No. 1, especially since J.J. Watt had just arrived in Houston, and Brian Cushing was coming into his own. Those two, plus the carousel of Mario Williams and Jadeveon Clowney, would've opened up so many more opportunities.

Sadly, the Texans defense wasn't always able to keep all of its best players under the same roof at the same time. While the team rebounded with Watt as the centerpiece, it's fair to say it would've been a much better unit had Ryans stayed.

2. Whitney Mercilus

Never the tackling machine that others were, namely DeMeco Ryans and Brian Cushing, what Whitney Mercilus lacked in copious amounts of tackles, he made up for in pass-rushing while having the greatest last name in NFL history. Mercilus was special. Playing as an outside linebacker from 2012-21, he racked up some impressive stats.

He only had 345 combined tackles, but he had 72 tackles for loss on top of 57 career sacks with the Texans. He's first all-time among Texans linebackers in both categories, as well as second all-time among all Texans, behind only J.J. Watt. Mercilus was just a play-making fiend. He played in 134 games, starting 102. That puts him third-all-time in Texans history, behind just behind John Weeks (long snapper) and Andre Johnson.

That volume, coupled with his playmaker attitude, helped him lead all linebackers in Texans history with 13 forced fumbles (again, second in club history to Watt). While he never had the major seasons that Watt or Cushing had, his consistency and longevity helped him sneak past some other deserving guys. He played in more games than anyone on defense, even more than Watt. Plus, his ability to play his role well for that time led him to be one of the most impressive defenders in club history.

1. Brian Cushing

The Houston Texans' linebacking corps will forever be an interesting beast. A guy like Brian Cushing at No. 1 may not make total sense, as he was once suspended for performance-enhancing drugs, yet his time on the team was arguably the most impactful of anyone in the team's history. From 2009 to 2017, few people could match his raw energy, which is why he took home the 2009 Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.

He's the top guy among all Texans in combined tackles with 664. Of those, 424 were solo tackles, while another 42 were tackles for loss. He had 13.5 sacks during his time, which puts him fourth in franchise history among linebackers. While he only went to one Pro Bowl, only four linebackers in Texans history have earned that honor.

He's also a heck of an iron man. He finished second in club history in most games played by a linebacker, but he also has the record for most starts by a Texans linebacker. It wasn't just his ability to get on and stay on the field that made Cushing the right pick to come in at No. 1, though. He was also tremendous on the field. We know he tackled everything that moved, and he was also a force when it came to turnovers.

He forced nine fumbles and picked off eight passes. He's second in club history in forced fumbles and first all-time in interceptions for linebackers. Not only could he hunt for turnovers, but his ability to disrupt the passing game was also in a class by itself. He's second in club history in pass deflections for a linebacker (30) and was so effective against the passing game that he'd be able to play with the Texans of today.

The top 10 linebackers in Houston Texans history by total tackles