Locker: 10 Thoughts About Texans' Uncertainty At Safety Position

Two seasons ago, safety was an area of strength.

Tyrann Mathieu, Kareem Jackson and rookie Justin Reid were the core of the position in 2018, but only Reid remains while Mathieu and Jackson have thrived on new teams.

Will the Texans bring in another safety?

Will the current group be the group they take into camp?

There are a lot of questions and thoughts about the backbone of the defense.

Here are 10 thoughts about the state of the safety position for the Texans.

According to Pro Football Focus, Gipson’s 59.5 grade in 2019 -- his only year with the tea -- was 77th among qualified safeties.

That’s not good and one of the main reasons he was released one year into a three-year $22.5 million contract.

The team will also take a $4 million cap hit in 2020, but performance isn’t the only reason Gipson was let go.

There had been whispers that Gipson was not happy last season, specifically when he had to play Week 17 in a meaningless game against Tennessee.

That game ended up being his last game as a Texan after he was placed on IR for J.J. Watt’s playoff return.

Justin Reid will start at one of the safety spots and ball. That’s the one thing that Texans fans should feel best about.

Reid made two of the biggest plays of the season for the Texans last season, both at the goal line.

The goal line tackle of Leonard Fournette on Jacksonville’s go-ahead 2-point attempt with 30 seconds remaining in Week 2 and the momentum-swinging hit on the one-yard-line that knocked the ball into Whitney Mercilus’s hands in the second quarter of the Week 15 matchup in Tennessee.

If Reid takes the type of leap linebacker Zach Cunningham took in his third season, then we could be talking about a Pro Bowl-type year for the third-year safety.

The Good: The Texans have three safeties on the current roster that can play special teams at a high level.

A.J. Moore, Michael Thomas and Jaylen Watkins have all played well on special teams in recent years.

The Bad: None of these guys have a proven track record of being quality starters.

Thomas, a special teams Pro Bowler in 2018 and member of the 2010’s All Decade team as a special teamer, is one of the best in the game on the third unit, but has started 10 games in the last three seasons and 33 games in his seven-year career.

Watkins has started eight games in his five-year career.

Moore, who has been with the Texans for two seasons and played 32 games, has never started a game at safety and has played 20 defensive snaps in his entire career.

Eric Murray has an opportunity to make Bill O’Brien look very smart.

In an offseason of head-scratching moves, Murray’s three-year, $18 million contract was one of the moves that had media types and fans the most confused.

A large portion of the confusion had to do with the fact a lot of people had no idea who Murray was, including people I talked to in Cleveland where he played last season.

In 2019, Murray started four games for the Browns, but it’s clear the Texans are expecting much more from him in 2020, at least you’d think.

Are the Texans expecting Murray to be a starting safety? Backup safeties don’t usually get the money Murray is getting, so you’d think they have high hopes for him.

The Texans selected TCU defensive tackle Ross Blacklock with the No. 40 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, but would Blacklock have been the selection if Alabama safety Xavier McKinney had been on the board?

McKinney was widely regarded as the top safety in the draft, but was selected No. 36 overall by the New York Giants.

Will the Texans bring in a veteran before camp?

Tony Jefferson and Eric Reed are at the top of the list of current veteran free agents.

More names will likely emerge before the season.

Eric Reid was recently released by Carolina, has had success in the league and is a physical box safety. He also has limitations in coverage.

Reid was 12th in the league with 130 tackles in 2019 and had four sacks, which would’ve been tied for second on the Texans last season.

The idea of Lonnie Johnson moving to safety has been thrown out by some, including Clint and Show at SportsRadio 610.

A position change with limited offseason activities would be even more difficult than usual for Johnson, would decrease cornerback depth and Johnson seemed to struggle in space at times last year, which isn’t ideal for a safety.

I would expect Johnson to be a corner and only play safety in emergency situations like last season when a depleted safety group forced him to matchup with Kansas City safety tight end Travis Kelce in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Man, that was tough to watch.

It would be in the best interest of the team to see how Johnson develops as a corner before entertaining a permanent move to safety.

Despite the fact the Gipson signing was a failure, I still have no issue with the Texans not re-signing Tyrann Mathieu after the 2018 season.

Kansas City made Mathieu the highest-paid safety in the league and although Mathieu has thrived with the Chiefs, he wasn’t the same caliber player here, for whatever reason.

Mathieu went to a better team with a system that maximizes his strengths and got the most money while the Texans didn’t overpay for a guy that wasn’t a perfect fit in their system.

I was fine with letting Mathieu go when it happened and I’m fine with it after Mathieu was an All Pro and won a Super Bowl.

Some players fit better in certain systems and The Honey Badger was more valuable to the Chiefs than he was the Texans.

While I’m ok with letting Mathieu walk, letting Kareem Jackson walk the same offseason was a bad decision.

Jackson, who finally moved to safety at the start of the 2018 season, arguably played the best of anyone on the defense before having to move back to cornerback due to injuries.

Super Bowl Champions Mark Schlereth and Big Al Williams, who cover Jackson in Denver, rave about how good he has been as a safety there and were baffled the Texans let him go during visits on SportsRadio 610 last season.