J.J. Watt tore his pectoral in the Houston Texans’ 27-24 win over the Oakland Raiders Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium. The injury ensures the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year will spend his third season in the past four on the injured reserve list.
As a result, the Texans have to cobble together a replacement, as if replacing certain Hall of Fame talent is as easy as calling 1-800-Pass-Rusher.
Could the solution, at least for the remaining eight games of 2019 and the hopeful playoff push, already be on the Texans’ roster?
“I think there’s a lot of things you can do,” coach Bill O’Brien told reporters Monday. “Last year was last year, but I think the versatility of [defensive tackle] D.J. Reader helps. I think there’s a lot of things you can do, though.”
An option the Texans have is to kick Reader outside at Watt’s defensive end spot and bring in nose tackle Brandon Dunn more to play the middle. Or, the Texans could keep the same personnel, plug someone in at Watt’s position, and look for the pass rush elsewhere.
“You’ve got guys like (Barkevious) Mingo, and (Jacob) Martin, Charles Omenihu, that are versatile players,” O’Brien said. “Like I said last night, no one person is going to take the spot of a Hall of Fame player, but at the end of the day, these things happen and we’ve got to move forward and do what we have to do to win games. That’s what we’re going to do.”
The Texans may not find the solution as they lead up to a Week 9 encounter with the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday in London at Wembley Stadium. Even though the club is leaving on Thursday, they will lose a day in preparation thanks to the transcontinental flight. But the Texans do have a bye week in Week 10 to help figure out their new front seven strategy for the rest of the year.
“We’re going to do the best we can to put the players in the right position based on what their skill sets are and go try to win games,” O’Brien said.
