The Value of Things: Evaluating the Houston Texans Linebacking Corps

Who should they keep and who should they bring back?

As we continue through our series on Houston Texans position groups we notice a few things. The Texans have a lot of cap rook but they also have a ton of players that were on one year contracts. The linebacker room is no different. They only employed four linebackers routinely this past season and two of them are free agents. They can’t afford to bring back everyone and if they did they would do little else.

Linebackers are different than any position on the field. Officially, the Texans run a 4-3 defense, but as most football fans know, teams rarely play in their base defense. When teams move to three wide receivers, the opposing team usually counters with their nickel or dime package on defense. That effectively cuts the linebacking corps from three to two.

Yet, teams expect more out of their linebackers than any other position on the defense. Even PFF grades them according to how well they defend the run, rush the passer, and defend in coverage. In addition to that, we will look at tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, and passes defended. As you might imagine, having someone that can do all three things well is worth its weight in gold.

The PFF numbers are fairly easy to interpret. Most players range between a 40 and 90 in a particular skill set. That usually sets 60 as roughly average. So, anything above 60 means the player is a net positive in that department. Anything below that and they probably weren’t helpful. As we will seem very few players in the 50s or 60s in any category. They were either very good (70 or higher) or very bad (below 50).

Christian Harris

Snaps: 869
PFF Run: 49.0
PFF Pass Rush: 77.4
PFF Pass Coverage: 72.2
Tackles: 101
Sacks: 2.0
TFL: 7
Passes Defended: 7

How does one interpret playoff performance? Jeremy Pena was the ALCS and WS MVP in 2022 and then went back to being a good fielder and average hitter. J.J. Watt parlayed a great postseason in 2011 into a Hall of Fame career. Time will tell whether Harris’ great postseason propels him into a Pro Bowl type linebacker or if it was simply two great games at the right time. History shows it is probably somewhere in between. A good uptick in performance probably lands him in the Pro Bowl and that’s a nice guy to build the room around.

Blake Cashman

Snaps: 746
PFF Run: 82.3
PFF: Pass Rush: 71.3
PFF Pass Coverage: 75.3
Tackles: 106
Sacks:: 2.0
TFL: 9
Passes Defended: 5

The NFL doesn’t give away such awards, but Cashman would have been a major candidate for the most improved player in the NFL. He went from a special teams guy to a Pro Bowl level linebacker. He has never held up over a full season, so he probably shouldn’t be paid big time linebacker money, but you never know who might offer him a big contract once he hits the open market. He probably can’t play 1,000 or more plays and remain healthy, but if they can find depth then he could be really productive for 600 or 700 snaps.

Denzel Perryman

Snaps: 633
PFF Run: 77.9
PFF Pass Rush: 68.6
PFF Pass Coverage: 41.1
Tackles: 76
Sacks: 0.5
TFL: 6
Passes Defended: 3

If you think Zach Cunningham or Benardrick McKinney then you are on the right track Perryman is a perfectly proficient two down linebacker. Those guys have value and fit in almost every defense. Yet, their value is limited and teams (see guys above) make mistakes all the time overpaying those guys. Perryman is good, but overpaying him would be a mistake. You can find guys as good as him if not better in the draft or on the open market.

Henry To’oTo’o

Snaps: 459
PFF Run: 54.7
PFF Pass Rush: 45.0
PFF Pass Coverage: 41.8
Tackles: 61
Sacks: 0.0
TFL: 2
Passes Defended: 2

Harris put up similar PFF numbers in his rookie season in a similar number of snaps. Of course, he had more physical gifts as well. Maybe To’oTo’o makes a similar jump between year one and year two. Maybe he will always be limited. Either way, he is on a rookie deal so there is no reason to panic either way. Even if he plays sparingly it’s not going to break them in terms of the cap. If he can make a nice jump from year one to year two it could enable them to spend heavily elsewhere.

Overall Outlook

Denzel Perryman will likely be let go with the tanks of the coaching staff and Nick Caserio for holding the unit together for a season. However, they can do better. Blake Cashman on the other hand will be a more difficult and challenging decision. There are few guys that succeed in all three phases of the defense. If they can bring him back without breaking the bank then they would have three linebackers coming back. Find another veteran linebacker similar to Perryman and you have a good linebacker room for reasonable investment.