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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