Andre Hal’s retirement was a shot to the safety depth for the Houston Texans, but don’t look for that outcome to affect the club’s approach to safety in the 2019 NFL draft.
According to general manager Brian Gaine, the Texans already have players on the roster who will be given a chance to fill the void left by Hal.
“Losing Andre hurts your depth a little bit, but we have some young players here that are going to be given a great opportunity to come in and compete for spots at safety — No. 3 and 4,” Gaine told reporters on April 18.
The club currently has Mike Tyson, A.J. Moore, and A.J. Hendy on the roster to compete for the reserve slots behind projected starters Tashaun Gipson and Justin Reid.
“Right now, going into the season we think Gipson and Justin Reid will be our starters, but we’re always trying to look to improve our depth,” Gaine said. “So, we’ll toward the draft here to see if there are any possibilities to do that. We’ll continue to evaluate what we have. If we feel like we have to do something to address that situation down the road via veteran free agency, I think that would be more of a post-draft discussion than a now discussion.”
To dip into the free agent pool after the draft would be a move the Texans would make during or after organized team activities and mandatory mini-camp if the club felt Tyson, Moore, and Hendy weren’t capable enough to handle the backup spots.
Another area where the Texans could add depth to safety and churn the bottom of the roster would be in priority free agency immediately upon the draft’s conclusion on April 27. Houston has been able to hit on at least one undrafted free agent in recent years with 2018’s WR Vyncint Smith and 2017’s LB Dylan Cole some of the best examples.
