Free agency officially begins on March 13 at 3:00 p.m. with the start of the new year in the NFL, and our friends at Touchdown Wire have been making their predictions.
Doug Farrar has taken a peek into his crystal ball and sees safety Tyrann Mathieu, who spent 2018 with the Houston Texans, returning to a NFC West avian club, the Seattle Seahawks.
When there are this many holes to be filled with developmental players, teams should find as many versatile veterans as possible. Mathieu certainly fits that description—through his career with the Cardinals and Texans, he’s played everywhere from outside cornerback to slot defender to deep safety. Mathieu isn’t quite the defender he once was, and he still gambles too often, but he would provide experience and athleticism to a secondary looking to redefine itself.
The consolation for the Texans losing Mathieu is they at least address offensive line with the signing of tackle Ja’Wuan James
Adding James to the mix at right tackle would provide a serious upgrade. Not that James is the best right tackle in the business, but he’s far better than anything the Texans are rolling out, and they’d better do something to protect [quarterback Deshaun] Watson’s front side before the poor guy gets vaporized one too many times.
In signing James, it would present a unique situation as the Texans see Seantrel Henderson as their starting right tackle for 2019. Unless James was better than Henderson, or the loser of the duel for right tackle became swing tackle, the Texans aren’t going to make that kind of signing.
Losing Mahtieu would leave Houston in the lurch and in need of a safety opposite of former 2018 third-round pick Justin Reid. Houston has talked to some defensive backs at the NFL combine, but they were mostly cornerbacks. A Honey Bader departure would force the Texans to either get younger at safety or sign a replacement in free agency.
