Battle Red Blog
What is the one blind spot on the Texans roster?
As we sit here in mid June waiting for the beginning of training camp, most fans take a look at the rosters of their favorite teams and project potential holes or weaknesses. When you have a playoff team that usually ends up being in the singular form. When you are the David Culley Houston Texans all you see are holes. So, it is often in the eye of the beholder or beer holder as it were.
Yet, we cannot deny that all crises are opportunities. Every NFL championship had a spot or two in camp that looked problematic. They were just fortunate enough that a seemingly unknown player stepped up to fill the void. In June, this just lingers in the air like a fart in an elevator. The Texans do have some elbow room left to maneuver under the cap. Do they look for another available free agent or let internal candidates take a run at it?
The arrest of Jimmie Ward highlights a potential problem for the Texans. Ward was technically not slated to start. The starting safety spots were going to Calen Bullock, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Jalen Pitre respectively. Pitre is serving as a sort of hybid linebacker, so he may count as a safety in name only. Ward would have been the next man up and as a guy that started 20 games in two seasons with the Texans, that’s quite the depth to have.
I firmly believe people are innocent until proven guilty and we have certainly seen our fair share of players that have been accused but never criminally charged with domestic battery. None of them avoided suspension. The likely course of action is for Ward to be put on the commissioner’s exempt list until any investigation (criminal and league) is finished. The standard course from there even for players not charged is a four to six game suspension.
This assumes that Ward is even a Texan. Some alleged details came out after our initial articles last week that we released. Suffice it to say, it is troublesome. I hate predicting anything, but I have to think the odds are good that he will be released. If that happens, you will be without a primary backup safety.
We also saw last season that the Texans were without a primary backup corner. Sure, they had guys on the roster, but no one was really capable of filling in once Kamari Lassiter or Derek Stingley left the field. When you look at the depth chart for ESPN, It’s not really a pretty sight. However, one name jumps off the page and that is the player penciled in to backup Jalen Pitre at nickelback.
Smith was listed as a safety, defensive back, and corner in four seasons at USC. The interesting thing is that there was no other prospect that had a wider range of opinions on him from the Texans draft. Some thought he was picked...
