Alan Truex: Houston hits the sweet spot with Honey Badger, but still has problems

HOUSTON — Very much under the radar – and under a new general manager — the Houston Texans have made significant free-agency acquisitions.  Last year their offensive line and defensive backfield were among the worst in the NFL, and now both look to be average or better.

Brian Gaine, who replaced the justifiably maligned Rick Smith as GM, addressed pressing needs by signing solid starting guards in Zach Fuller (from Kansas City) and Senio Kelemete (New Orleans).

His splashiest purchase, however, is safety Tyrann Mathieu, a/k/a Honey Badger.  He’s 25 and as recently as 2015 was an All-Pro safety for the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals, who are in total rebuild, offered him $8 million for next season, but he accepted slightly less from the Texans, thinking their prospects for rising are better than what he saw in the desert.  He has only a one-year deal, which he sees as an opportunity for a much bigger payday to come.

Houston might not seem an appealing destination coming off a 4-12 tilt.  But Mathieu likes being much closer to his home of New Orleans.  And his new team has an impressive nucleus: dynamic quarterback Deshaun Watson, sticky-fingered receiver DeAndre Hopkins and fierce edge rushers J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus.

“I look at the quarterback position,” Mathieu said.  “And I look at the defense.  I’ve never played with a defensive line quite like the guys they have here, with Mercilus, Watt and Clowney.  I’m gonna have a lot of fun playing behind those guys.”

The problem is that Watson, Watt and Mercilus were injured most of last season, and Clowney has missed large chunks of previous ones.

Mathieu is another with surgical history: torn ligaments in both knees.  He recovered splendidly from the 2013 injury to become first-team All-Pro in 2015, when he intercepted 5 passes, knocked down 17 and made 89 tackles – 9 for losses.

But with two games remaining in the 2015 season his right knee gave out.  He played only 10 games in 2016 and intercepted just one pass.

He was still sluggish in the first half of last season, but in the second half he was the Honey Badger of yore and lore.  He made plays from a variety of positions: strong safety, free safety, slot corner and in the box and on special teams.

He played 16 games for the first time in his career, and he led the NFL in total snaps – 1,263.

“I tried to take care of my body a little more,” he said.  “I leaned on the vets.  A lot of guys showed me things to do before the games and after the games that kept me fresh.  I thought I got better as the season went on.”

Of course the Texans are thinking he’s regained his peak form and can hold it.

“I just want to prove the point that I’m one of the best safeties in the league,” he said upon signing with Houston.

If he and the Texans are right in their assessment, coach Bill O’Brien’s team could return to its 9-7 form of the three seasons prior to the last one.

Sorry, it’s not time to plan a parade.  Realistically, there’s much more to be done before the Texans can challenge the Jacksonville Jaguars, defending champions of the AFC South.

As much ground as Mathieu can cover, he can’t erase the inadequacies of cornerbacks Kevin Johnson and Kareem Jackson, both of whom were first-round draft picks.  They’ve shown flashes of ability but no consistency.

Starting corner Johnathan Joseph was once very good, but now he’s 33, his 4.35 speed a memory.

Gaine did sign a cornerback with the perfect background – New England Patriots.  But Johnson Bademosi is a factor only on special teams, where here again the Texans desperately needed help.

Although Gaine took care of the holes at guard, he’s still left with Breno Giacomini and Kendall Lamm as starting offensive tackles.

It’s a good thing Deshaun Watson is a tremendous runner (astonishing 7.5 yards per carry as a rookie, long gain of 49) because much of the time he will be running for his life.

With the Texans, what you see now is what you get.  They cannot expect much help from the draft. 

In order to rid himself of Brock Osweiler, the most overpaid quarterback in NFL history, Rick Smith had to toss Houston’s second-round pick in the April draft.

The first-round is also gone, though for a much better purpose: trading up to claim Watson in last year’s draft.

Where Smith damaged the Texans most was not in his overrating of other teams’ players but in undervaluing his own.

He refused to pay market price for A.J. Bouye, Duane Brown, Glover Quin, Ben Jones and Brandon Brooks.  All of them left Houston to become integral pieces on other NFL rosters.  Bouye and Brooks became All-Pros, for Jacksonville and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, respectively.

The Texans have won just three playoff games during Smith’s 12-year tenure, and they had too many gaps for Gaine to plug in four months.

Smith gave up his job for 2018 to be with his wife as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.  He intends to return, as executive vice president of football operations, which could mean business operations not involving football personnel.

Before agreeing to a 4-year contract extension in January, O’Brien demanded to be freed from answering to Smith, who said he’s not sure he will resume duties as general manager in 2019.  Brian Gaine is getting a chance to make sure that does not happen.