The Houston Texans have a problem. They can’t decide who they want to play at cornerback.
Since March, Houston has added three former first-round cornerbacks to the roster, in Bradley Roby (2015), Vernon Hargreaves (2016) and Gareon Conley (2017). They did so while retaining long-time starter Johnathan Joseph and drafted Lonnie Johnson in the second round.
When all are healthy, the Texans don’t know who to play. Last week, in a 38-24 loss to the Denver Broncos, Houston rotated through the five aforementioned, with Roby seeing the most snaps at 76% (45). That was the plan.
“We planned to rotate a little bit,” said defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel on Thursday. “We have more corners that can play now than we’ve ever had before since I’ve been here. So, we wanted to get everybody a little taste to see what they can do.”
As Crennel alludes to, the Texans feel as if they have an abundance of talent in their cornerback room. They have their best in franchise history in Joseph, a lockdown slot defender in Roby, a promising rookie in Johnson and two former highly-touted recruits in Conley and Hargreaves, who are each 24 years old.
Rotating will help evaluate who they want in the now and future.
“I think that helps our evaluation, that helps the competition in the room, and then we can stay a little bit fresher as well,” said Crennel.
According to Pro Football Reference, Roby leads the bunch in coverage, as he allows a 77.7 passer rating when targeted. Joseph is second with a 101.7. Conley is third with a 105.6. Johnson and Hargreaves round out the bunch with a 107.5 and 116.5, respectively.
With three weeks left in the season, expect the Texans to rotate through cornerbacks less as they figure out a combination that will suit their needs. Of course, they will have to get to the postseason first, which they can do by winning two out of the next three.