Houston Texans reporter Jonathan Alexander published a mailbag article on Wednesday. In it, he answered several questions pertaining to the team ahead of the team's training camp rookie report date of July 21st.
One of the questions, posed by me, was about Houston's questionable depth at both running back and defensive end. "If the Texans were concerned, they would have added one of those positions by now," Alexander efficiently began his response. "But it's also important to remember that performance and injuries can change things."
I initially read his response as a standard game plan for a team's roster planning at this late of a stage in the offseason. Not too many more fireworks to be expected, but things in the NFL happen all the time that can change the calculus. To Alexander's point made a few sentences later, it's perfectly reasonable to see a savvy scheme fit be the addition as opposed to an attempt at a "big splash" if any moves were to be made at all. However, it was Alexander's final words that cracked the door open to a potential issue that could become a highly-exploitable weakness come the first whistle of the regular season.
Alexander believes Texans' lack of depth at defensive end could become a "problem"
To close out his analysis of my inquiry, Alexander shifted the tone of his overall sentiment by acknowledging,
"However, I do believe the lack of depth at edge rusher has the potential to be a problem."
At the time of writing, Houston has a defensive end unit that features depth pieces such as:
- Dylan Horton
- Ali Gaye
- Solomon Byrd
- Dominique Robinson
- Sabastian Harsh
Across these five players, they have combined stats of:
- 10 NFL seasons played (104 total games)
- 134 total tackles
- 5 sacks
- 1 forced fumble
Compare that with Houston's All-Pro duo of Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, who together have accumulated:
- 13 NFL seasons played (199 total games)
- 697 total tackles
- 144.5 sacks
- 19 forced fumbles
Needless to say, after Anderson and Hunter, the quality of play and accolade count takes a dramatic turn. It's not to say that the aformentioned five are negatives when they step on the field. However. the lack of a true third option who can spell either Anderson or Hunter in high leverage moments could leave the defense vulnerable to the occasional long developing schock play that can flip a game on its head.
Then again, it's only July 3rd, and we're still a long ways away from many "worst case scenario's" being close to coming to fruition. However, it's always wisest to plan ahead and take proactive steps in order to avoid potential pitfalls, as opposed to seeing a problem developing and expecting it to handle itself.
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