Whitney Mercilus – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Texans DL coach Bobby King says personnel is already familiar with four-man fronts

Houston Texans DL coach Bobby King says that the defense was already playing four-down fronts predominantly even though their base was a 3-4.

The Houston Texans are going from a base defense of a 3-4 to a 4-3, which seems like quite the transition as the standup outside linebackers line up in a three-point stance at the line of scrimmage.

However, defensive line coach Bobby King, who is also making the transition from inside linebackers coach to his new position, says the Texans were running four-man fronts even when their base defense was the 3-4 last season.

“We’ve done a lot of this stuff,” King told John Harris on “Texans All Access.” “Our base defense was a 3-4. There’s no doubt about that. But the big thing is we’re going to be in three-point stances a majority of the time, and that’s the big thing for defensive ends. They’re hungry to do it, and they’re loving it so far. The two-point stance, it’s not going to be around.”

The move from a 3-4 to a 4-3 means that outside linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Whitney Mercilus will line up with their hand in the dirt. Mercilus and Greenard have experience playing in 4-3 defenses going back to their college days.

How is Texans’ Whitney Mercilus adapting to playing as a defensive end?

Whitney Mercilus is adapting to the Houston Texans’ new Tampa 2 scheme. How is Mercilus looking as a defensive end?

The Houston Texans are going from a 3-4 defense, which they ran in 2011, to a Tampa 2 scheme with a 4-3 front.

What the scheme change means is that edge defenders classified as outside linebackers in the 3-4, such as Whitney Mercilus, are going to have to put their hand in the dirt and come off the ball in a three-point stance as a defensive end.

For Mercilus, playing as a 4-3 defensive end is familiar territory, although not one that he has visited since the Texans selected him in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft from Illinois. In Wade Phillips’ scheme, Mercilus was converted to a standup outside linebacker where he has tallied 54.0 sacks through 128 career games.

What’s old is new for Mercilus.

“With Whit, the funny thing is when we talked about the hand in the dirt, that’s the only thing that’s different about what’s going to be his role this year,” defensive line coach Bobby King told reporters on a Zoom call on June 8. “He said, ‘Coach, I haven’t put my hand in the dirt consistently since my junior year at Illinois.’ I said, ‘well, that was about 10 years ago.’ That’s going to be the big thing.”

According to King, after eight weeks of offseason workouts, including 10 sessions of organized team activities, the 30-year-old seems to have found his old groove.

“To be honest, he’s come in and he’s looked pretty natural doing it, hitting the sleds,” said King. “Now, we’re not going against offensive linemen, obviously, right now, but it’s been a pretty natural transition and I hope to continue to see that.”

The Texans won’t put on the pads until training camp. When they do, it will be a more accurate evaluation of how Mercilus can handle coming off the edge in a three-point stance. In shorts and no pads, Mercilus at least has good technique.

Texans’ Whitney Mercilus ready to play with hand in the dirt in new 4-3 scheme

Houston Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus says he has no problems converting to a down lineman in the team’s new 4-3 scheme.

The Houston Texans’ Whitney Mercilus says that he is comfortable playing as a down lineman in the team’s new Tampa-2 scheme with a 4-3 front.

Outside linebacker was the role Mercilus played for the Texans since they selected him in the first-round of the 2012 NFL draft. Now, in defensive coordinator Lovie Smith’s defense, Mercilus will have to play as a down lineman at defensive end.

“When I came out of college, I was in a 4-3, so it’s going right back into what I’ve done: Go see ball, go get ball,” Mercilus said via Aaron Wilson of SportsTalk 790 [KBME]. “I like it.”

The Texans traded with the Miami Dolphins for former Buffalo Bills 2016 first-round pick Shaq Lawson. Although Lawson played as an outside linebacker in 2020 with the Dolphins, he played as a defensive end in Buffalo in Leslie Frazier’s defense, who runs a comparable scheme to Smith.

Mercilus also seeks to help the Texans’ defense, which finished dead last with nine takeaways in 2020 en route to a 4-12 record, rebound and bring intimidation to opposing offenses on game days. However, it starts with chemistry.

“No doubt, we’ve got to build the chemistry,” said Mercilus. “Once we build that and understand the defense, we’re going to do some good stuff. Any given Sunday, any given team can win. That’s been proven time and time again in the NFL. You can’t count anybody out.”

The Texans added to their defense in the 2021 NFL draft by selecting linebacker Garret Wallow from TCU in the fifth round and defensive tackle Roy Lopez from Arizona State in the sixth round.

6 Texans who restructured their contracts to create more salary cap space

Take a look at the six Houston Texans who restructured their contracts to help out the team in free agency.

The Houston Texans have found ways to create enough salary cap space to go on their free agency spending spree in 2021.

Here are six Texans who restructured their contracts to help give new general manager Nick Caserio some flexibility as the club works through the 2021 season, getting upfield to a better offseason in 2022.

Texans rework OLB Whitney Mercilus contract to free up $4 million in salary cap space

The Houston Texans have reworked the contract of outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus to save $4 million in salary cap space.

New Houston Texans’ general manager Nick Caserio continues to right the wrongs made by the previous regime. According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, the Texans have reconstructed outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus’ contract. By doing so, the Texans have created $4.0 million in salary-cap space.

Mercilus signed a four-year contract extension in Dec. of 2019 worth up to $54 million — with $18 million fully guaranteed. The 31-year-old edge defender had a cap hit of $12 million, which has since been reduced to $8 million ahead of the 2021 season.

Mercilus’ restructured contract allows the Texans to void his final two years, making him a free agent next offseason. After spending three years at the University of Illinois, Mercilus joined the Texans as a first-round draft pick (No. 26 overall) in 2012.

He has spent his entire career as a member of the Texans recording 54.0 sacks in 128 games. Mercilus’ best season came in 2015 when he notched a career-best 12.0 sacks in 16 games.

4 options the Texans have with OLB Whitney Mercilus

The Houston Texans have some options available when it comes to the contract of outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus.

Outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus is a good fit for the 3-4 defense, but the Houston Texans are switching to the Tampa-2 scheme with a 4-3 front under new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith. As such, Mercilus may be out of position.

Furthermore, the former 2012 first-round pick from Illinois will be 31 years old on July 21. Mercilus isn’t exactly a young man by the NFL’s standards, and he probably won’t sniff a double-digit sack season as he did in 2015 when he collected 12.0.

What can the Texans do with Mercilus? Here are four options, according to Over The Cap.

Texans’ Romeo Crennel: Whitney Mercilus, Eric Murray have mild COVID-19 symptoms

Houston Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel says that OLB Whitney Mercilus and S Eric Murray are recovering from COVID-19 and have had mild symptoms.

The Houston Texans had to place two of their starters on defense on COVID-19 reserve within 48 hours of their Week 16 contest with the Cincinnati Bengals.

On Dec. 25, outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus was placed on the reserve. On game day, Dec. 27, the Texans placed safety Eric Murray on COVID-19 reserve.

Interim coach Romeo Crennel gave an update on the status of the two defenders during his Wednesday media availability.

“They’re both recovering,” Crennel said. “They don’t seem to have any serious symptoms. They have the milder things, the headaches, the body aches. But I think they’re improving from when I’ve texted and talked to them. Now, they have to wait out their sentence so to speak. I think that they’re doing OK.”

Due to the preponderance of positive tests, the Texans had to close the team facilities and held a walkthrough on Wednesday.

“We are having a walkthrough where they’ll come, and we’ll have a walkthrough for about an hour and then they’ll leave,” said Crennel. “They are not using the facility. They come in, we go to the field, we walk through and then they leave.”

The Texans are hopeful that the cutdown on interaction between players stops the spread. Players and coaches will also be wearing masks as they attempt to “get some fundamental work done,” according to Crennel.

The Texans close out the regular season Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at NRG Stadium against the Tennessee Titans.

Texans aren’t blaming late roster changes due to COVID-19 for loss to the Bengals

The Houston Texans had to make some changes to their roster due to COVID-19, but they aren’t blaming it for the 37-31 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Houston Texans had to place two starters on COVID-19 reserve within 48 hours of kickoff against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium.

However, don’t expect interim coach Romeo Crennel to blame the loss of outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus and safety Eric Murray for the club’s 37-31 loss in Week 16.

“Any time you lose a starter at this point, at the point in the game where we lost him, that’s difficult because you’ve got to figure out who goes to replace him and all of those kind of things, and so you have to move pieces around,” Crennel said. “Then the guys who had to wait on contact tracing, I think that that impacted their mentality to a degree but they still got there and lined up and tried to play the game.”

Watt pointed out that every team in the NFL is working through challenges, including the Bengals, who started backup Brandon Allen at quarterback and backup Samaje Perine at running back.

“Cleveland played with no receivers today,” Watt said of the Browns’ concurrent contest with the New York Jets. “Every team in the league is dealing with things. So, we can sit here and make excuses and say why we’re not playing a certain way and why we’re not doing this and why we’re not doing that. The fact of the matter is every single team is dealing with that. So, you’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t. We haven’t.”

The Texans defense gave up 540 yards total offense to the Bengals. Allen was not sacked once and tallied 371 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Would Mercilus and Murray have made that much of a difference? Probably not, because the Texans’ problems in 2020 have extended far beyond the availability of their starters.

Texans OLB Whitney Mercilus placed on COVID-19 reserve

The Houston Texans have placed outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus on the COVID-19 reserve for the second time this season.

The Houston Texans will be without one of their starting outside linebackers as they take on the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at NRG Stadium in Week 16.

Outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus was placed on the COVID-19 reserve Friday, the team announced.

Mercilus originally missed Week 9’s rematch with the Jacksonville Jaguars as he and inside linebacker Dylan Cole were deemed close contacts with outside linebacker Jacob Martin, who did test positive for the novel coronavirus.

The Texans were able to activate outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett from injured reserve last week. Houston also has Martin and rookie third-rounder Jonathan Greenard to provide support on the edge in the absence of Mercilus.

Texans’ Romeo Crennel provides insight to OLB Whitney Mercilus’ recent play

Houston Texans OLB Whitney Mercilus has not had many splashy performances in 2020, and interim coach Romeo Crennel provided an explanation.

Houston Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus completed his second straight game without a tackle in the 36-7 loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 14 at Soldier Field.

Although Mercilus did register a quarterback hit, the performance was another 60 minutes of a once near-Pro Bowl pass rusher not making an impact in areas that have defined his career.

However, interim coach Romeo Crennel isn’t down on Mercilus.

“I told you that he is playing a position where he’s not always in the rush,” Crennel said. “He’s in coverage some and he’s been flipping from side to side. That impacts a player. I think that what I would have to do is I would have to look at point of attack. How many times is he at the point of attack, how many times has he been rushing, and then come up with what I think is a good answer for you on that.”

On the season, Mercilus has provided 20 tackles, 4.0 sacks, five tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits, a pass breakup, and a fumble recovery.

“Just outwardly looking, we know what he used to be and what he used to be was he was rushing all the time, which allowed him the opportunity to become more familiar with the guy that he was going against because he was going against the same guy all the time and be able to know what moves he needed to make to impact the quarterback,” said Crennel. “So now, flipping him, he’s engaging different guys, he’s engaging different responsibilities. All of that adds up. That would be my initial answer right now.”

The Texans take on the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15 at Lucas Oil Stadium. To avoid being swept by the Colts for the first time since 2017, the Texans will need Mercilus to play at a high level, regardless of what his obligations are on defense.

[listicle id=57334]