The Houston Texans are on track to let defensive tackle D.J. Reader walk in free agency. With the legal tampering period set to begin Monday, Houston is on pace to lose their Pro Bowl alternate.
Over the course of the season, despite the hardball between coach Bill O’Brien, now full-time general manager, and Reader’s camp, the sixth-year coach has stated on numerous occasions throughout the 2019 season just how much Reader meant to the team.
Smart, tough, dependable
The day after the Texans lost 51-31 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional playoffs, O’Brien expressed how much of a priority it was to keep Reader as free agency was two months away.
“D.J. is definitely in that category of smart, tough, and dependable,” O’Brien said. “He’s been a really good player for us ever since the day he walked in here. So, we’re going to sit down with D.J., we’re going to talk and we’re going to try to do what’s best for both sides.
“We’ll see where that goes, but D.J. is just a — he’s an awesome guy, a guy that has played a lot of great football for us and that’s it.”
Very difficult to block; a great teammate
Reader was a key part of the Houston Texans’ 28-22 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football at NRG Stadium in Week 13. The former 2016 fifth-round pick notched a season-high seven tackles, a tackle for loss, and hit quarterback Tom Brady four times.
“He’s been very consistent, very productive,” coach Bill O’Brien said on Dec. 2, 2019. “You’re right, you don’t really see inside guys doing some of the things that he’s doing. He’s very, very difficult to block, he’s a very active player, he’s a great teammate and that needs to continue, and he knows that.”
Reader does more than suck up blocks
One of the criticisms of the 6-3, 347-pound defensive tackle is that he is a space-eater in the middle. Reader sucks up blocks and allows inside linebackers Zach Cunningham and Benardrick McKinney scrape to make plays.
Bill O’Brien didn’t classify Reader’s job as that on Oct. 16, 2019.
“I wouldn’t describe his job as sucking up blocks,” said O’Brien. “I think his job is to control his gap, whatever that gap may be, and then once he sees the ball committed in the run game, make a play.”
O’Brien then went on to talk about how hard Reader has worked in the offseason, and how it was manifesting in the regular season. And it wasn’t just the offseason where Reader worked hard. O’Brien pointed out how Reader was working with defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, now the new defensive coordinator, every day.
Said O’Brien: “I think that D.J.’s done a good job. He works very hard. He’s a really good football player. He’s got good technique, he’s really a strong player, he does a great job of pad level and using his hands and his footwork. Weave does a great job with those guys working the fundamentals every day. D.J.’s done a good job, and that’s really important in this game.”
Reader gives Texans’ juice inside
2019 was the season where Reader put it all together, collecting 52 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and six tackles for loss in his 15 games, all of which he started. Even as early as Oct. 7, just before the club’s Week 6 encounter with the Kansas City Chiefs, coach Bill O’Brien could see how special of a season Reader was having.
“He’s played well over the years,” O’Brien said. “He’s played very well. He’s playing at a very high level right now. He’s doing a great job against the run with his technique, his footwork, his pad level, his hand usage, his footwork, and then he’s rushing the passer. He’s giving us some juice up inside and he’s playing very well.”
Now, the Texans are on the verge of losing that juice.
Bonus material
On Oct. 3, 2019, three-time defensive end J.J. Watt described how Reader made his job easier.
“He plays the double team in the run game extremely well, he pushes the pocket in the pass rush, he gets up the middle and can get good pressure up the middle,” said Watt. “He plays run blocks extremely well, he chases down screens, he works very hard. He’s just a very solid, dependable, reliable player who you know where he’s going to be, you know he’s going to do his job. He comes to work every day and you just know what you’re going to get out of him, and that’s extremely valuable.”
In June of 2018, coach Bill O’Brien joined the Texans Unfiltered podcast and talked about how he wished the media asked him more questions about Reader. O’Brien also praised Reader for his paying attention to club advice on losing weight, getting stronger, and improving his technique.
“He’s a guy that has come in here and paid attention to things like losing some weight, getting stronger, being able to improve his skill set so that he’s not just playing on the interior,” said O’Brien. “Sometimes he plays on the outside of the line of scrimmage and has helped us in some ways there, especially like you said when there were injuries. So, he’s a really valuable part of our defense and I know our guys in our locker room really respect him.”
If the Texans let Reader go, which is seeming to be the case, the locker room will have to find another leader to respect while the front office tries to replace Reader’s production.
