Heading into the 2019 season, it appeared the Houston Texans were set at the inside linebacker position.
They had Benardrick McKinney, a former second-round pick and Pro Bowler and Zach Cunningham, a 2017 second-round pick. They had an undrafted free agent in Dylan Cole who has produced well on the field. This seemed more than enough for the Texans to not have to worry about this position moving forward.
Fast forward to the end of the 2019 season and things have definitely changed, especially from a pass coverage standpoint. Dylan Cole, possibly the Texans best coverage linebacker, played in 11 games, but ended up suffering another season-ending injury (torn ACL) in Week 12. This was his third major injury in three years in the NFL.
The duo of McKinney and Cunningham played pretty well overall. They held up well against the run and finished with the following lines
| Linebacker | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | PD | QB hits | FF |
| Zach Cunningham | 137 | 7 | 2.0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Benardrick McKinney | 101 | 4 | 1.0 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
On the surface the numbers look great, and for the most part they were. But there was one area they both really struggled, and that was in pass coverage. Linebackers playing in coverage has become increasingly more valuable and with the Chiefs as the team to beat right now, the Texans are going to have to build a team to keep up with them. According to Pro Football Reference, Cunningham and McKinney had the following numbers while in pass coverage:
| Linebacker | Completions/attempts | Comp. % | Yards | TD-INT | Passer rating |
| Zach Cunningham | 38-49 | 77.6 | 319 | 2-0 | 107.4 |
| Benardrick McKinney | 35-39 | 89.7 | 350 | 5-0 | 143.6 |
While coverage is not their primary responsibility, it has become more prevalent for linebackers to be versatile and pickup running backs out of the backfield and the tight ends.
While Pro Football Focus’ Ben Linsey believes Houston needs to make cornerback their top offseason need, coverage linebacker also needs to be addressed:
“The Texans should also look to improve in coverage at the linebacker position. No team’s linebackers allowed a higher passer rating into their coverage than Houston’s did (124.7).”
This doesn’t mean starting over at the position — far from it. Cunningham is only 25 years old and should continue to get better and has the athleticism to play coverage. McKinney is signed long-term, which makes trading him away that much more unlikely. However, it would free up some salary cap space for the Texans, who have to figure out how to pay Cunningham, quarterback Deshaun Watson, and left tackle Laremy Tunsil, all of whom are in line for new deals.
The best way to go about this is to find an athletic linebacker in the draft that has the ability to cover. They don’t have to get a starter, but get someone who can play on obvious passing downs to help with the coverage.