The Houston Texans have a shakeup coming with the cornerback group, and it is partly due to starters Johnathan Joseph and Bradley Roby set to enter free agency.
Rather than re-signing their starters, Anthony Treash from Pro Football Focus believes the Texans should take a look at former Cincinnati Bengal and Los Angeles Ram Troy Hill.
Houston’s secondary has hindered the team’s success. The unit ranked 28th in coverage grade and will see its top two cornerbacks, Johnathan Joseph and Bradley Roby — who were average at best — enter free agency. They’ll need to bring in multiple cornerbacks, and one they need to be targeting is Troy Hill. While with the Rams these past four years, Hill has never seen a full season as a starter — but his 2019 production makes him deserving of such a role. Hill’s coverage grade was among the 25 best in football, and he allowed the second lowest catch rate (45.1%). With little draft capital, Houston will have to nail free agency, and Troy Hill for a lower cost is a good start.
Hill collected a career-high 41 tackles in 2019 and produced eight pass breakups, also a career-high. The former undrafted free agent from Oregon started in nine of his 14 games played for the Rams, adding 1.0 sack along with his two interceptions, which also tied a career-high.
Currently, the Texans have 2019 second-round pick Lonnie Johnson under contract along with Gareon Conley and Vernon Hargreaves. Houston also has Cornell Armstrong and Anthony Chesley on the roster. While Keion Crossen is also a cornerback, the former New England Patriot is more on the roster for special teams purposes than actual play in the secondary.
The problem with going with Hill is it would be adding above average talent at a position that was inconsistent in 2019. Of course, if the Texans can find a way to fix the pass rush, theoretically, they should be able to field a quality defense, even with Hill as one of their starting corners.