The Houston Texans have their safety situation shored up for the time being.
The club re-signed Terrence Brooks and still have veterans Jonathan Owens and Eric Murray on the roster. Throw in the versatility of Lonnie Johnson to go from cornerback to safety, and the Texans have players who can at least dress on game days and fill out the roster.
Houston still has a big void to fill with the departure of Justin Reid, a former 2019 Ed Block Courage Award winner, who signed a three-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency.
As offseason workouts kicked off for the Texans Monday at NRG Stadium, coach Lovie Smith expressed confidence in who the club currently has under contract.
“As we go forward, Jonathan Owens did a few good things last year, he played,” said Smith. “He fits the profile of what we’re looking for. Eric Murray, same thing, did some good things. I believe in him. He’s smart. We have a new safeties coach that loves him, also. Terrence Brooks, we’re bringing back three guys that have played a lot of football that we feel good about.”
The Texans brought in Joe Danna as their safeties coach. Danna had previously spent the past five seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars coaching defensive backs in various capacities.
Whether through the addition of assistant coaches or retaining existing talent, Smith knows the Texans still have work to do in acquiring talent on the backend.
“There is still free agency going on and there’s a draft going on, and we’re going to improve the club still with that,” Smith said. “In an ideal world we’re going to dress four safeties, have five safeties that you feel good about. That’s the goal.”
While it makes sense for the Texans to draft Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton or Georgia’s Lewis Cine, the end of the month will reveal whether general manager Nick Caserio and the personnel department similarly thought it was sensible to invest capital in a young safety.