The Houston Texans signed safety Michael Thomas in the offseason to provide support on special teams, but they also acquired the rights to a defensive back who uses his brain as much as his brawn.
First-year defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is pleased with the addition of Thomas, who he can pair up with another former Stanford safety, Justin Reid.
“It’s awesome,” Weaver said. “You can’t have enough smart guys, particularly back there in that secondary. There’s so many adjustments they have to make throughout the game whether it’s formationally, two by two, three by one, is it a condensed formation? Are they stacked? There’s just so much communication that goes on so that you can get all of those guys on the same page.”
Part of what the safeties have to do is retain the information that was presented to them and transmit the information exactly how it was given. There can’t be anything lost in translation.
Said Weaver: “I always compare it a lot to the telephone game when you’re younger. You start off, you say one thing to somebody, by the time it gets to the guy across the other side of the field, who knows what they said? So, we’re trying to do our best to master the telephone game.”
Thomas and Reid aren’t the only smart defensive backs on the roster; Weaver mentioned cornerback Bradley Roby and safety Eric Murray, who also joined the Texans in the offseason.
“It obviously makes that communication, that cohesion, a lot more cleaner,” said Weaver.
If the Texans have a secondary that can use its collective intellect to support the pass rush and shut down opposing receiving corps, then it should help them retain their AFC South title in a competitive division with threats from A.J. Brown, D.J. Chark, and T.Y. Hilton.
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