Tag: Tracy Smith

Texans shuffle linebackers, strengthen special teams

The Houston Texans have released ILB Jan Johnson and signed LB Daren Bates and brought back LB Anthony Kukwa, both of whom have special teams utility.

The Houston Texans have retooled the depth of their linebacking corps to help out with their special teams unit.

Houston released inside linebacker Jan Johnson and will bring back linebacker Anthony Kukwa, who is also a long snapper. The Texans have also brought in linebacker Daren Bates. Both of the veterans have a history of working with Texans special teams coordinator Tracy Smith.

“So we released Jan Johnson and we added Daren Bates,” coach Bill O’Brien told the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain. “He’s been a very productive special teams linebacker. He played at Tennessee and Oakland and Tracy Smith had a familiarity with him. And then we also added a long snapper, linebacker named Anthony Kukwa.”

Bates was with the Oakland Raiders in 2016 when Smith was an assistant special teams coach under special teams coordinator Brad Seely. Kukwa was part of the Raiders’ offseason program after leaving Lake Erie College in 2017 and becoming an undrafted free agent the same year.

The move demonstrates the Texans seek to comprise their roster of veterans with experience rather than invest heavily in undrafted free agents such as Johnson, which is one of the twists the 2020 season is taking due to the effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and the lost offseason.

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Texans special teams are still in good shape after Brad Seely’s retirement

The Houston Texans still have key special teams pieces on the roster, even after the retirement of special teams coordinator Brad Seely.

The Houston Texans won’t have the benefit of Brad Seely and his decades of special teams experience coordinating the transition unit in 2020, but there are still valuable pieces on the roster.

Pro Football Focus uncovered statistics that Texans punter Bryan Anger finished in the top-10 of the football analytics firm’s punt grade as well as ubiquitous stats such as net average and average hang time.

The Texans acquired Anger during training camp, cut the former Jacksonville Jaguar and Tampa Bay Buccaneer the end of preseason, and then signed him back to the active roster ahead of their Week 3 showdown at the Los Angeles Chargers.

Houston also has Ka’imi Fairbairn handling the kicking duties. The former UCLA Bruin connected on 20-of-25 field goals for an 80.0% field goal percentage, the second-best of his career. However, the extra point percentage was the lowest of his career at 88.9%. Fairbairn connected on an overtime field goal in the AFC wild-card that delivered the Texans a 22-19 win over the Buffalo Bills for the club’s first playoff win since 2016.

Long snapper Jon Weeks also returns for the Texans. The Pro Bowl long snapper gives Houston stability at one of the most critical yet unheralded aspects of the game.

The Texans also have role players on the rosters who provide consistency to the team’s coverage units. Linebacker Dylan Cole earned his first captaincy of his career in 2019, and the club also added a Pro Bowl special teamer in safety Michael Thomas.

Though Seely retired, the knowledge and cohesion he forged on the Texans may not be lost. If the club chooses to promote Tracy Smith, who has been Seely’s assistant since 2010 with the Cleveland Browns and has followed him at every stop between there and Houston, then all of the pieces the Texans have will continue the system; they won’t have to relearn a new one.

Seely was a coach that Bill O’Brien relied upon, but he still has two others in his inner circle still on the staff in associate head coach Romeo Crennel and offensive line coach Mike Devlin. Similarly, the loss of Seely may not be impactful to the special teams given the talent and experience already present.

Tracy Smith is natural fit to take over as Texans special teams coordinator

The Houston Texans are in need of a special teams coordinator, and the promotion of Tracy Smith would be natural given his coaching experience.

The Houston Texans were dealt the unexpected when special teams coordinator Brad Seely announced his retirement from the NFL after 31 years of professional coaching.

Seely, who spent the past two seasons with the Texans, leaves the job vacant. Now, Houston has to come up with an answer as to who will replace the three-time Super Bowl-winning coordinator.

The solution could be already on the staff. When Seely came over to Houston from the Oakland Raiders, where he had been the special teams coordinator under Jack Del Rio from 2015-17, he brought with him Tracy Smith.

Smith, an LSU graduate, has been an understudy of Seely’s for the past 10 years. In 2010, Smith’s first job came with the Cleveland Browns as Seely was in his second year with the AFC North club as their special teams coordinator

In 2011 when Seely took the same job with the San Francisco 49ers, Smith followed and stayed there through the 2014 season.

Smith, whose father, Carl Smith, is still on the Texans’ staff as an offensive assistant, is known throughout the league for his ability to work with special teams. Ahead of the Texans’ Week 16 encounter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coach Bruce Arians, who was the Arizona Cardinals coach from 2013-17 and went against the 49ers twice a year, was complimentary of Smith.

“Extremely, extremely well coached,” Arians told Houston reporters on Dec. 17, 2019. “Brad Seely and Smith, those young guys, they have such a great tandem of coaches. Everywhere they’ve been together, the special teams have been outstanding.”

The band is breaking up with Seely going into retirement, but the acquisition of safety Michael Thomas may ease the transition from Seely to Smith. The former 2018 Pro Bowler played for the 49ers from 2012-13 and has experience with the Seely and Smith system.

“You’re talking about a guy that has always been considered one of the top special teams players in the league,” coach Bill O’Brien said on April 24. “He’s played very well, he has experience with Brad Seely, Tracy Smith, most recently with the Giants. He played for the Giants, done a good job.”

Thomas earned his Pro Bowl selection with the New York Giants in 2018, but his formative years in the NFL were with Seely and Smith.

If the Texans want to keep the continuity in systems in the transition phase of the game, then promoting Smith is the logical move.