Houston Texans Off Season Thread

[eagle eye]

Houston traded up in both the second and third rounds to get players they were targeting. This leaves Houston with no picks in the 4th and only compensatory picks in the 5th and 6th rounds which all come at the end of the round. So, it's going to be a long wait for the Texans today before they get a choice.

 

Houston moved up in the 2nd round to pick ILB Bernardrick McKinney from Mississippi State. Here's a little info from Texans.com about him.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-trade-up-to-pick-LB-Benardrick-McKinney/44c95380-72ff-4b3a-a875-db0b43fbea2b

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Prospect-of-the-Day-Benardrick-McKinney/8c6ca825-c93c-46e4-add0-08016a6b3eb0

 

In the third round Houston traded up 12 spots in the round with Cleveland to snag a wide receiver Jaelen Strong from Arizona State. He had been projected as high as the 1st round but he didn't get follow up exams on his wrist. It won't matter if he is a player that can compliment DeAndre Hopkins. He's tall and has soft hands. The Texans included DeVier Posey, who hasn't really distinguished himself in Houston, in the trade as Houston gave up a 5th and 7th round pick to move up to get Strong.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-trade-again-draft-WR-Jaelen-Strong-in-3rd-round/85119ead-1d39-45dc-ae22-87f97e7520ef

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Prospect-of-the-Day-Jaelen-Strong/5fda62d5-bb18-49ef-a786-55714d9c4303

[eagle eye]

The Texans other draft picks are as follows:

 

Rd 4 - No pick in this round.

 

Rd 5 - Pick 39 - Keith Mumphrey WR Michigan State - 6'2" 215 lbs.

 

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/keith-mumphery?id=2552420

 

Rd 6 - Pick 35 - Reshard Cliett OLB South Florida

 

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/reshard-cliett?id=2553449

 

Rd 6 - Pick 39 - Christian Covington DT Rice

 

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/christian-covington?id=2552602

 

Rd 7 - Pick 18 - Kenny Hilliard RB LSU

 

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/tracker#dt-tabs:dt-by-team/dt-by-team-input:hou

 

 

Another item that has gone rather unnoticed is the signing of free agent safety Stevie Brown. That signing took place on Friday and was understandably flying way under the radar. Houston managed to upgrade their defensive secondary and they also won the battle to sign Brown between Houston and 5 other teams including the Cowboys. Brown came from the NY Giants. He was injured for most of 2014 and lost his starting job but he's still a good player and he should help the Texans defense.

[eagle eye]

The Texans, in a good mood after a good draft I guess, announced the signing of LB Whitney Mercilus to a 4 year $26MM contract extension that features $10.5MM guaranteed. Mercilus hasn't become the pass rusher the Texans had hoped but he has shown steady improvement especially against the run so Houston decided he was worth the extension.

[eagle eye]

Just before this past weekend's rookie mini camp that featured the Texans draft picks and undrafted free agent signees, first year players and camp invitees the Texans announced that they had signed every one of the their draft picks including 1st round pick CB Kevin Johnson. Pretty slick move and just one less thing to worry about going forward.

 

The Texans won't have DB D J Swearinger to kick around any more. After a really bizarre day where Swearinger said goodbye to Houston and his fans on Twitter, then GM Rick Smith saying he didn't know what Swearinger was talking about because as far as he was concerned he was still a Texan, to the announcement late today that Houston had put Swearinger on waivers. This comes after weeks of speculation that Houston was shopping Swearinger for a trade that never materialized. As has been pointed out on Houston sports talk radio today, the release of Swearinger leaves only 3 players on the current roster with only OL David Quissenberry who is battling cancer the other surviving member of the Texans 2013 draft class. We'll see what comes of the dratees under new head coach Bill O'Brien but you really have to wonder why GM Rick Smith isn't more on the hot seat. With abject failures in the 2012 and 13 draft classes and head scratching releases of quality players still under contract you just have to think owner Bob McNair has to feel his player personnel department is lacking and that includes Rick Smith.

 

Here's a list of the 16 undrafted free agents Houston signed for this past weekend's mini camp.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-sign-all-seven-NFL-draft-picks/4049cd33-b7de-46c9-96ae-d783e00bc135

 

Not only did Houston release Swearinger they signed 3 players on the strength of the rookie mini camp. RB Mack Brown from Florida, S Cory Moore from Georgia and T Joseph Treadwell from Louisiana-Monroe. Houston also waived G Jake Cotton from Nebraska and placed DE James Rouse from Marshall on the waived/injured list.

 

Bill O'Brien was saying after the completion of the rookie mini camp that the rookies need to improve their conditioning but he was pleased with some 2nd year players who came to camp. Here's a brief look at O'Brien's comments.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Labhart-second-year-players-looking-good-in-minicamp/90f5a843-b77e-4072-b31c-3335df2bbae3

 

Texans.com analyst John Harris gives his 10 observations from the rookie mini camp.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/10-observations-from-rookie-minicamp-/5403790b-e9a9-4e7e-9b13-7c836caf074a

[eagle eye]

So, the word from ProFootballTalk is that Houston canned safety DJ Swearinger because he refused to play special teams. Apparently, you don't buck Bill and get away with it. Swearinger made 144 tackles over the last two years but he was a liability in pass coverage. IMO he was a guy who liked to talk a lot of smack but didn't do all that much to back it up. It seems like Bill is trying to get his type of players on the roster. It also seems like the scouting department needs to do a better job of researching their players. In last year's draft Xavier Su'a-Filo was a top prospect according to most pre-draft analysis but he was more bust than boom. Same with NT Louis Nix III. Nix was always hurt in OTA's and training camp and never made any sort of impression on the field. I said it in a previous post but I don't know why GM Rick Smith isn't having his feet held to the fire for some really awful draft picks. For every hit there are 10 flops. The only draft picks you can point to is JJ Watt and DeAndre Hopkins. The rest of the guys who you could point to are no longer with the team. Players allowed to leave as salary cap casualties which brings up another bit of GM business--the salary cap. Houston is always in cap jail and they have had to let players who were still productive leave to save money. All the while negotiating deals that overpay and over-value the players. Bill wants to build his roster with his guys---that's okay but it won't be easy doing that and fighting the blunders of Rick Smith.

 

BTW, Swearinger never made it past the first team on the waiver wire list as Tampa Bay snatched him up almost as soon as he hit the market. We'll see what Lovie Smith can do with him.

[eagle eye]

Not much to talk about. Things seem to be quite around Texan-land. They did have a charity softball game on May 1st and several players did their best Arnold Schwartzenegger impressions that were shown on the jumbo tron during the game. Apparently, Arnold here about it and made a comment on twitter.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Breakfast-JJ-Watt-impresses-Arnold-Schwarzenegger/2f3ea240-6236-48b2-9430-d9fce5bda19c

 

Houston lost S D J Swearinger this week. Well, lost isn't the correct term, they ditched him when he was released this past week. Don't weep for D J because Tampa Bay snatched him up off waivers as quick as you please. For Texans fans who worried about the void left by Swearinger I'm here to remind you of the fact that Houston signed free agent Stevie Brown, formerly with the NY Giants prior to the draft. Brown was carving out a nice career in NY before tearing his ACL prior to the start of the 2013 season. He came back in 2014 but he wasn't the same which is normal for an ACL unless your name is Adrian Peterson. A full off season of work and Brown should be able to get back to his pre-2013 form.

 

One other item of note for you Texans fans who are NOT Cowboys fans. The Texans won the bidding war for Brown over at least 6 other teams including the Cowboys but Brown chose Houston in no small part that Brown's sister lives in Houston and she had talked him into buying a house there even before free agency began.

Edited May 18, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

The Texans weekly TV show on FoxSportsSouthwest, "Texans Huddle" aired a segment with Texans.com's John Harris breaking down the Houston draft picks going into OTA's next week. Another segment featured an interview with new nose tackle Vince Wolfork. Both segments are linked below.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-media/videos/Texans-Huddle-II-Wilfork-1-on-1/2ad645e0-70f8-4d38-bce2-966979f8c18f

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-media/videos/Texans-Huddle-III-Rookie-breakdown/0567e999-1867-4cc1-9f45-422c84876295

[eagle eye]

The Texans cancelled their first OTA practice yesterday because of flooding in the Houston area. The Texans hope to begin OTA practices today but with the rain we've had already I'm not sure that is going to happen. Here's a link to NFL.com's article about the cancelled practice with links to pictures of the flooding in the Houston area.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000494073/article/houston-texans-cancel-opening-of-otas-due-to-flooding?campaign=Twitter_atn

[eagle eye]

Houston had their first OTA practice today since the first day which was supposed to be yesterday was postponed because the flooding rains in the Houston area. That's a good thing---not the floods but the fact things have calmed down enough for practices to be held.

 

The other big thing that came out yesterday was that the Texans will be the team featured on HBO's Hard Knocks. That's the show that follows the team and a few players in particular during training camp. I will be interested to see it because I want to see how Bill O'Brien handles his team. Should be fun, for fans anyway because I'm not sure that the teams that get featured on HK like the distraction.

 

Here's some observations from Texans.com's John Harris from today's first OTA practice.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Observations-from-Day-1-of-OTAs/62a1673c-bd7b-48f0-8f06-002732075947

[eagle eye]

There seems to be good news in Texan-land. What is it you ask? The answer is a true quarterback competition will take place this summer to see who will lead the Texans into the 2015 season. Here's a look at that competition between Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett and Tom Savage from Texans.com

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Quarterback-competition-starts-in-OTAs/f8f49936-b543-4fe7-b220-b9c542e5cdc9

 

To say that nose tackle Louis Nix III's 2014 season was disappointing is an understatement. Heck, even this spring Bill O'Brien sort of called out Nix as a guy with a lot to prove in 2015. Here's an article about Nix from Texans.com where he talks about his frustrating 2014 and how he needs to focus on "the little things" as OTA's have begun with many things to improve upon from now all the way through training camp. There is also a video of the interview with Nix with the article.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Focus-on-little-things-is-big-for-Louis-Nix-III/9de147a5-16c4-4048-b7da-402662b612d9

 

Here's a link to a video of an interview with LB Brian Cushing where he dishes on his health, Jadeveon Clowney and new teammate Vince Wilfork.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-media/videos/Cushing-on-health-Clowney-Wilfork/8d369300-ba5a-44bd-94c9-a6afc399a8f8

Edited May 29, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

The main discussion is Texan-land is the QB competition this summer between Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett. The word is folks need to not forget about Houston's 4th round draft pick last year even though he was less than impressive in his rookie season. All 3 QB's have split reps in OTA practices so far but Bill O'Brien won't tell what the breakdown of the reps has been. Savage himself has said that the difference this season and last season is like night and day. Last year he was still learning the system and by his own admission he was guilty of thinking too much and not playing fast. This year his familiarity in the system is much better and he's able to cut loose and play faster. That, and a good off season in the weight room has helped him out a lot. It's quite possible the Texans will carry 3 QB's on the roster if nothing else but to protect Savage from being claimed by another team IF he makes the Texans practice squad.

 

Two other players who have benefited from a full off season of work are TE CJ Fiedorowicz who was Houston's 3rd round pick out of Iowa and DB Andre Hal out of Vanderbilt who was one of Houston's seventh round picks. The off season has really had a positive effect on Hal's improved physical makeup and at 5'10" he actually made a positive contribution in 2014 playing 14 games at CB. But, with that position seemingly full with Jonathan Joseph, Kareem Jackson and first round pick Kevin Johnson Hal and his new, more muscular body could make a successful move to safety. With Raheem Moore playing free Hal certainly has his work cut out for him but as Bill Parcels once said, "You can never have enough good corners." or safeties. Fiedorowicz body didn't really need much of a makeover considering he's 6'6" and 262 lbs even though he is thicker and stronger now. No, he was in the same boat as Tom Savage in that he was guilty of thinking too much instead of being able to just play. We should be able to see a much better player than we saw in 2014.

 

Besides a very strong draft class this season the Texans could be getting an infusion of talent from the 2014 draft class. I already mentioned Andre Hal and CJ Fiedorowicz but a couple of other players look to rebound from disappointing rookie seasons. Like 2nd round pick Xavier Su'a-Filo who was expected to help beef up the Texans O-line but a late start due to UCLA's quarters system that delays the west coast players from participation in team OTA's and nagging injuries his ability to do anything significant next to impossible. Or Louis Nix III who was the Texans 2nd 3rd round pick and player who was one of the most highly touted defensive lineman in the 2014 draft never got started at all. In fact he was more or less called out by Bill O'Brien prior to the beginning of OTA's by responding to a question about his probable impact for the Texans by saying, "Showing up to practice would be a start.". This was in reference to Nix's injury troubles last year. He had knee surgery in the 2014 off season which caused him to miss OTA's and training camp and he had another knee surgery on September 24 of 2014 which ended his season. This season Nix is healthy and has spent a lot of time at the Texans facility prepping for this coming season beginning with OTA's. Nix will benefit from learning the nose tackle position from Houston's newest D-lineman Vince Wilfork. Lonnie Ballentine is another 2014 seventh round pick like Andre Hal who looks to rebound from a bad rookie campaign. In fact Ballentine was the last pick in the whole 2014 draft meaning he was last year's Mr Irrelevant. After a hamstring injury sidelined him for the season he's anxious to bring his 6'3" 215 lb frame to the strong safety position.

This season is like getting two draft classes for the price of one even though it would've been nice if some of these guys had showed up last year.

 

I know of one more guy from last year's draft class that had a disappointing season. This one isn't likely to contribute much this season either. Of course I'm talking about Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney is just about 5 months removed from microfracture knee surgery. This type of surgery is career threatening and takes a year or more to recover from. Texans have been saying that he is right on schedule inferring that he'll be ready for training camp or at least the season opener. I think this is hogwash. Anthony Spenser the DE from Dallas had this surgery and it was fully 14 months before he saw the field and 16 before he started to make a contribution. To hope Clowney will be back to full strength in 8 months, if he is able to come back at all, is not being realistic unless the Texans intend to push Clowney to the field early and thus jeopardizing he career. I just don't see the Texans being that stupid.

[eagle eye]

Did you hear that when the Texans announced they would be on HBO's Hard Knocks program the New Orleans Saints cancelled the joint practices with Houston prior to their preseason game this summer? A bit of a chickensh*t move by the Saints but they want nothing to do with being on reality TV. It was too long before the Texans came to an agreement with the Washington Redskins to hold some joint practices. This despite the fact that the Texans and Redskins do not play in the preseason. The joint practices will be from August 6 to the 8th at the Redskins training camp facility in Richmond, Virginia. All these practices will be open to the public and attendance is free.

[eagle eye]

One of the feel good stories of the season so far is the fact that 2013 6th round pick David Quessenberry is back working out with the team. The 6'7" OL is working himself back into shape as he tries to work his way onto the 53 man roster. Below is an interview with Quessenberry discussing his participation in OTA's and his hope for the future and his continuing need for chemo-therapy sessions as he continues his recovery from cancer. Gotta root for a guy like this.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-media/videos/Quessenberry-on-his-journey-back/d82d08f9-4cb8-4e2d-b7e2-965d6df4e667

 

Texans beat writer John Harris shares his 17 observations from Week 3 of OTA's.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/17-observations-from-Mondays-OTAs/b893bdd7-a6a5-45c7-b101-9e0f03d93ad2

 

According to an article in the Bleacher Report the Texans have reached out to former Texans center, Chris Meyers, about returning to the team. It is being reported that Meyers is considering the offer before he makes a decision on whether he will return to the team. He was let go in March in what I'll bet any amount of money was a salary cap move and now the Texans are hoping to resign Meyers to a more cap friendly salary. Meyers had never missed a game since he came to the Texans, that's 112 starts in 7 seasons. It would be great if they Texans got him back.

 

According to ProFootballTalk the Texans announced that assistant coach George Godsey was named offensive coordinator on Monday. Godsey has been elevated from quarterback's coach to OC filling a position that didn't exist in the first year of Bill O'Brien's tenure last season. Godsey first worked with O'Brien at Georgia Tech when O'Brien was QB coach and Godsey was a QB on the team. He worked with O'Brien in New England until O'Brien left to be head coach at Penn State. The Texans will not fill the opening at QB coach as they feel Godsey can handle both duties.

Edited June 10, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

First we hear that Bill O'Brien will name a starting quarterback before training camp begins at the end of July. Then we hear he won't. There's plenty of time to decide who the starter will be and it doesn't make sense to worry about that in June. With the Texans wrapping up OTA's Friday O'Brien said there was a lot accomplished the past 3 weeks.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/OBrien-Texans-accomplished-a-lot-in-OTAs/56289235-72d4-444d-bcbe-a07fc8239f1b

 

Here is an article from John Harris detailing 17 observations from the final day of OTA's.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/17-observations-from-the-final-day-of-OTAs/efc851b3-ebe4-49d9-a623-1762020d9b85

[eagle eye]

The good thing about this off season wasn't even being discussed until recently but Texans fans should feel pretty good about this news. So far in OTA's the Texans have had LB Brian Cushing during all the workouts. That is a good thing especially when you consider how much time Cush has missed in the past. Last off season had Cushing still rehabbing another knee surgery and he was limited to work on the side with trainers for the most part. He did play 14 games last season which is way better than the 12 games total he played the previous two. Another thing that is good is that last season the whole of the defense was learning a new defense from a new coaching staff. According to Cushing he was having to think a lot about his assignments which cause him to play a little slow. This season in the 2nd year in the Romeo Crennel defense he understands it more completely allowing him to play much faster. Fully healthy off season and fully engaged in the new defense is all good news for the Texans. Not only is Cush healthy he's playing like his old self. That is the best news of all.

 

The back and forth over whether or not Bill O'Brien is going to name a starting QB during OTA's didn't happen and it won't happen by the end of this week's mandatory mini camp. O'Brien has said the competition between Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer is just too close. Check out this link from the Bleacher Report.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Texans-QB-duel-too-close-to-call-6324673.php?t=141a8718ffd8ff4dd2&cmpid=twitter-premium

 

Gotta love summer time when girls in bikinis are frolicking around. Check out this video from the Texans cheerleaders.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-cheerleaders-cover-Carly-Rae-Jepsen/92e83b13-ad1a-4625-96ce-d414fa5d4fab

Edited June 15, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

Bill O'Brien is now the most popular man in the Houston Texans organization. Why? Because first thing this morning O'Brien said he was proud of the effort in OTA's and the first two days of this week's mini camp so as a reward for all the hard work mini camp practices are cancelled today. So instead of the hiatus from mini camp to the beginning of training camp begins a day early to the delight of the team and everyone else who participate in the practice. Now for all you hard core fans who will be pissed because the Texans are losing a whole day of practice, relax. A mini camp practice in June won't make or break the team's potential for success. What it did was build a little good will for the coaching staff. In a word, morale boost. Okay, two words but you get the idea. Now the long 5 weeks before training camp begins a day early. For us fans who will go crazy waiting for something football to happen we say big freaking whoop. It's actually six weeks because the first training camp practice is August 1st. In the mean time there are some items from the Bleacher Report to feed your football Jones, for today anyway.

 

What we wanted to hear Bill O'Brien say, he said this week. First round pick Kevin Johnson has impressed. Great. When is training camp?

 

Here are 11 observations from yesterday's mini camp practice by Texans.com's John Harris including WR Kareem Martin's desire to get noticed so he doesn't get cut. It wasn't put just like that but he's sure got an uphill battle in training camp facing off against DeAndre Hopkins, Nate Washington, Cecil Shorts and Damaris Johnson and highly touted rookie 3rd round draft pick Jalaen Strong. Good luck Kareem, you are going to need it.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/11-observations-from-Wednesdays-veteran-minicamp/2487e183-ecc0-4d75-9691-3308b488a53a

 

JJ Watt says that he sees a new, more mature Jadeveon Clowney. Great, but he still won't be back for Week 1. When is training camp?

 

I guess I'm tired of the blah-blah-blah that is chattered about this time of year. 6 freaking weeks! The Astros better stay in first place because if the Rangers overtake them I may kill myself before training camp begins. See you in 6 weeks Texans. Do us all a favor guys, don't mess up and get hurt or in trouble.

Edited June 18, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

Who says there's a break for the Texans? There was one bit of business that Houston took care of yesterday and that was extending the contract of CB Jonathan Joseph. The Texans gave him a 3 year extension which could mean that he just got a contract to extend to the end of his career. He currently has 9 years in the NFL and 3 more years would give him 12 seasons which is pretty close to retirement age.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-extend-CB-Johnathan-Joseph/06afcc40-6225-4d1c-9c9a-894ce63c2b2d

 

If you want to drift away to a beach and palm trees with a beautiful woman check out the Texans home page linked below and select the "2" on headline page where a video of the Houston Texans Cheerleader for the month of June, Kristi, that will make for a nice daydream of tropical locales and cool beaches!

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/index.html

 

JJ Watt has gotten a lot of air time for his dead-on imitation of Arnold Schwartzeneggar and it has even resulted in a tweet from "The Terminator" himself suggesting Watt replace him in the movies in the future (tongue in cheek I'm sure). With the Texans on a summer vacation between now and training camp Watt and his teammates went to see an early screening of the latest "Terminator" movie, Terminator Genesis. The link below includes a message from Arnold to Watt that is a bit of hoot!

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Minicamp-terminated-so-Texans-see-Terminator/29949c08-548c-47b9-90eb-6bc204232d5a

 

In honor of Father's Day this Sunday Texans beat writer John Harris shares some Father's Day memories in the Breakfast With The Bulls feature on Texans.com.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Breakfast-Memories-of-football-and-Fathers-Day/b2468a5d-6167-4943-b4dc-413b1f6e25b6

[eagle eye]

The Texans have a couple of video Father's Day greetings to share from Texans.com. Happy Father's Day to all! Click on the links for the 1 and 2 items on the Texans home page linked below for special wishes for Fathers on their day.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/index.html

[eagle eye]

JJ Watt just can't help making news but the great thing is it is almost always good. This time Watt was in a charity hockey game at the second annual Blake Geoffrion Hockey Classic, a charity hockey game made up of former Wisconsin Badger greats and current NHL players to raise money to benefit the UW Health Burn Center. Watt has said his first love in sports was hockey and he flashed a bit of his athleticism in the game scoring a goal on a penalty shot. There are several tweets in the article linked below and of course video of his successful penalty shot.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/JJ-Watt-makes-surprise-appearance-at-charity-hockey-game-nets-penalty-shot/316866cf-3770-49a9-b767-fe0697380105

 

For all you runners out there the Texans announced the H E B Running With The Bulls 5K race. It will be held on September 20th. For details of the event check out the link below which includes how to register to run.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Houston-Texans-announce-Running-of-the-Bulls-5K-presented-by-H-E-B/288285f9-6dec-45d6-9321-8b1d576c922c

 

Tom Savage is said to have improved tremendously since his rookie season giving the coaching staff a lot of good things to say about him so far in OTAs and mini camp. Savage has made the inevitable progression from being a raw rookie to a 2nd year NFL veteran. Except for one thing, his regular season debut in Indianapolis in Week 15 is still on his mind.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Tom-Savage-moves-forward-but-with-key-memory/e186c40f-1bbe-4564-8e01-eb67baa7476d

 

Finally, here's a link on Texans.com featuring lead writer Drew Dougherty including the video of his segment from the Texans weekly show on FoxSportsSouthwest Texans Huddle. Pretty funny stuff.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Dear-Drew-MORE-MORE-MORE/d4b54e96-7296-41c2-a8c4-ea69570d9c03

[eagle eye]

I've mentioned this before but the Texans have a guy who could be a playa. His name is Lonnie Ballentine and he plays safety. He was drafted with the last pick in the 2014 draft. Being that pick has been named "Mr Irrelevant" because 7 round draft picks are a longshot of making the team and being the last pick in the draft your odds of making the team is slim and none. That being said you kind of want to root Ballentine because he's worked his tail off after missing all of 2014 because he was injured in training camp and put on season ending IR. He's back and ready to prove he is definitely not "irrelevant". Ballentine has good size (6'3", 215) and he's big and fast enough to play either safety position. There are guys who you sort of root for because of their backstory and, for me, Ballentine qualifies here.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/No-more-waiting-for-Lonnie-Ballentine/66c03428-75f0-40f6-b22c-d3c35e9b1e39

 

JJ Watt is in the news yet again! This time it's because he's been nominated for 2 ESPY awards. In the link below to Texans.com it explains which categories he's nominated for and how we can cast our votes for the awards.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Breakfast-JJ-Watt-up-for-2-ESPYs/b546b382-c775-47c9-ab0e-c7434deceeff

[eagle eye]

No news without JJ Watt seems to be impossible these days. Us Weekly (via Bleacher Report) has reported that Watt is now in a relationship with tennis pro Caroline Wozniacki. Yep, Rory Mcilroy's ex and Watt have become a sure enough item. Will we give the couple a hyphenated nickname like Branjelina? There are a couple of choices here. How about either "WozWatt" or maybe WattWoz". Both catchy nicknames if I do say so myself.

 

http://m.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/caroline-wozniacki-dating-jj-watt-tennis-nfl-pros-are-an-item-2015306

[eagle eye]

Texans.com's John Harris is breaking down the Texans roster going into training camp. In this link he breaks down the wide receiver position.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-media/index.html

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The one thing that is keeping fans in touch with the Texans in these dog days before training camp is the Texans fan show Texans Huddle which still comes on every week on Root Sports Network. In this week's show, all segments can be watched from the Texans home page linked below, the reports range from JJ Watt being named #1 in the NFL.com top 100 players of 2015, Shane Lechler and his brothers going fishing, and the weekly rant by Texans.com writer Drew Dougharty (which is usually pretty funny!).

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/index.html

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Boy it sure looked like the Texans secondary was going to solid as a rock especially after the Texans made CB Kevin Johnson their top pick in this year's draft. It only remained how the middle of the Texans defense, the linebacking corp, would shake out. But yesterday all that changed when veteran S Danieal Manning called it a career. Only stating yesterday that he was just "hanging up the cleats" Manning ended a 9 year NFL career. Here's an article from Texans.com about his retirement.

 

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/S-Danieal-Manning-announces-retirement/c8a465e5-598d-46be-9b41-28f786fa7971

 

With training camp only a day or two over two weeks away hopefully Houston won't lose somebody else!

[eagle eye]

It is hard to say what the Texans first training camp date is. The rookies are scheduled to report July 26 and the vets report July 31st. Now, I have seen the reporting dates but I haven't seen a thing about when full team practices begin. It may be that Friday the 31st or Saturday, August 1st. Either way this time two weeks from now Houston will be in training camp preparing for the 2015 season. In case you didn't notice, that's just two weeks away!

 

Bleacher Report has an article linked below with a slide show of available free agents who are waiting for teams to give them a call.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2525941-nfl-training-camp-2015-best-available-free-agents-waiting-on-camp-injuries-to-s

 

If Houston was needing to upgrade their depth on their O-line I wouldn't have a problem with the Texans signing Evan Mathis late of the Philadelphia Eagles and Jake Long formerly with the St Louis Rams. Long is a younger player (he's 30) than Mathis (he's 34) but both are good players. Long fell out of favor in St Louis after suffering a 2nd ACL tear last year. Mathis was let go by the Eagles this spring but he still looked like he still has something left in the tank. To me, another available O-lineman from Tampa Anthony Collins is not a great player who seems to be a problem in the locker room. Don't need a guy like that. Bernard Pollard is a veteran safety who is coming off an ACL injury last year. With the retirement of Danieal Manning it may be worth giving him a look if the Texans can get him cheap. Maybe a deal with incentives that could make it more palatable to the Texans.

 

It's great to have football so close but this will be a loooooonnnnnng two weeks.