Whitney Mercilus has become the old man in the room at 30 years old.
The outside linebacker is one of the leaders in the locker room and a mentor to some of the younger Houston Texans edge defenders.
Houston seeks to rebound from its sixth-place finish last year with just 31 sacks. To do so, they will need contributions from their younger pass rushers.
Mercilus, a former 2012 first-round pick, knows the key to having a breakout season.
“Just understanding your body, understanding your skillset, understand what moves work for you and have a number of moves,” Mercilus told reporters on Aug. 5. “You have an initial move and then you have a counter off that initial move. Just to be able to play chess with the offensive lineman as well to change up your alignment, whether you’re closer to the tackle, further from the tackle. Just those little things.”
In his rookie season in Wade Phillips’ 3-4 scheme, Mercilus produced 6.0 sacks, followed by 7.0 in 2013. Mercilus didn’t have his first double-digit sack season until 2015 when he collected 12.0.
Houston has a few promising edge defenders on the roster in Jacob Martin, Charles Omenihu, and Jonathan Greenard. Martin tallied 3.5 sacks after coming to Houston as part of the Jadeveon Clowney trade with Seattle. Omenihu, a fifth-round rookie from Texas, notched 3.0 sacks and two forced fumbles. Greenard, who the Texans selected in Round 3 of the 2020 NFL Draft, has been constantly asking Mercilus for advice.
“Just keep it real simple,” Mercilus said. “Keep it real simple for you and just go out there, and if you mess up, you mess up, and just keep going. Just don’t repeat the same mistake. That’s all I teach team.”
If the Texans’ young pass rushers are able to apply Mercilus’ advice to the playing field, then first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver will have plenty of tools to work with to generate an effective pass rush.
[vertical-gallery id=52186]