The Houston Texans made subtle improvements to the secondary, and they paid off if they were looking for validation.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr, who evaluated the offseasons for all four AFC South teams, the Texans upgraded their back end with the signing of safety Briean Boddy-Calhoun and cornerback Bradley Roby.
In what areas did the team improve? This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I kind of loved Houston’s additions in the secondary. Briean Boddy-Calhoun remains one of my favorite undersized players in the league and is an aggressive chess piece in a versatile scheme. The one-year deal for Bradley Roby was also strong, a buy-low option in a market where long-term deals are typically the norm. The former first-round pick started at least 15 games in each of his first five seasons.
Houston didn’t just make these additions. In the wake of losing safety Tyrann Mathieu to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Texans brought over Tashaun Gipson from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then, in the NFL draft, they spent a second-round pick on Kentucky cornerback Lonnie Johnson and a sixth-round pick on cornerback Xavier Crawford.
This isn’t even taking into account the bounce back cornerbacks Jermaine Kelly and Aaron Colvin could show in 2019.
If the Texans indeed improved in the secondary, it should help them in their tough onslaught of facing proven quarterbacks on the schedule, including Andrew Luck (twice), Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Matt Ryan.
