The Houston Texans have been conservative in free agency yet again, refusing to splash the cash on big names, even if it meant losing one of their best players from last season in safety Tyrann Mathieu.
Along with Mathieu, the secondary has been somewhat gutted with the departures of defensive back Kareem Jackson and cornerbacks Kevin Johnson and Shareece Wright. And considering that starting corner Johnathan Joseph will be 35 years old by Week 1, they have been in the market for some low-risk high reward corners who they believe they could turn around.
This is where former Denver Broncos first-round pick Bradley Roby comes in. After a generally underwhelming sting in Denver, the Texans have given this incredibly athletic cornerback a second chance signing him to a one-year ‘prove it’ deal, similar to what they did last year with Mathieu.
At the NFL owners meeting this week, Texans general manager Brian Gaine discussed the signing of Roby with Alex Marvel and John Clayton of SiriusXM via Patrick D. Starr.
“We knew we had to upgrade some speed and some ability to play man-to-man coverage and a player like Bradley Roby fit that criteria for us,” said Gaine.
What the Texans like about the former 2014 first-round pick from Ohio State is his ability to play man coverage along with his size and speed, traits he utilized over 79 career games to produce 238 combined tackles, seven interceptions, and 60 pass breakups.
Said Gaine: “We did a one-year deal with Bradley, he offers some of the size and speed dimensions that you often heard me talk about in terms of our prototypical standards in what we are looking for at that specific position — 5-11, 190 pounds; 4.3, 4.4 coming out and can play man coverage.”
It will be interesting to see how Roby develops and whether he can turn a corner and prove himself, as Mathieu did only last season. If he does, Roby could be the perfect utility replacement for Jackson.
