Houston Texans Cut Three, Sign Two Running Backs

Getting cut sucks, especially when one works as hard as they can to keep their job.

But it happens…

Yesterday, three running backs —  Andre Brown, Dennis Johnson and Tim Cornett — were given their pink slips as the Houston Texans’ coaching staff looks to trim the roster eventually down to 53 players.

ESPN’s Tania Ganguli reported it first with Brown and Johnson the first two to be cut:

Then the Cornett cut followed:

Brown, whom the just Texans signed away from the New York Giants where he had spent the past three seasons, performed poorly in training camp warranting him not seeing any action this past Saturday.

Johnson, whom the Texans carried over from last season’s roster was not effective in the time he was out there.  He was used sparingly as similar to last season.  Johnson did appear in eight games in mostly garbage duty or when Ben Tate needed a break.  In 2013, racked up 49 carries for 183 yards with no touchdowns.

He did show flashes of brilliance and that’s why he got another chance to keep his slot.  Sadly, that won’t happen with the Texans.

As for Cornett, a native of Houston, who was a star back at North Shore High and went on to play for UNLV, did not see any action at all.

I was rooting for his success on making the roster…

These cuts don’t come as too much of a surprise but I am slightly stunned that were done so early in the preseason.

I’m sure Bill O’Brien saw that they’ve reached their ceiling and gave them the dreaded call to his office.

I’m sure that was amongst the longest, dark and dreaded walk down the corridors of NRG Stadium as those players have ever experienced.

I wish the very best for those guys and hope they can latch onto other teams with Andre Brown to be signed elsewhere first.

On the flip side, the Texans worked out three running backs — Ronnie Brown, William Powell and Brian Leonard eventually signing Brown and Powell.

The Houston Chronicle’s John McClain reporting on the culmination of the running back situation for now:

Brown, 32, played his last two seasons with the San Diego Chargers but was overshadowed by the play of Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead.

Brown had 91 carries for 377 yards during the time that he was there. His best season to date was back in 2006 where he rushed for 1,008 yards off 241 carries and five touchdowns in his second year with the Miami Dolphins, the team that drafted him.  He has racked up more than 5,000 yards in his career with 38 touchdowns in 122  games, starting 74 of them.

As for Powell, 26, who is a native of Houston, starred at Duncanville High eventually going on to play for K-State.

He hasn’t not seen much action since 2012 when he was with the Arizona Cardinals in a backup role.

It’s apparent that the Texans are fine-tuning one of the few positions that actually looked good in last weekend’s preseason game.

These guys may be just what the doctor ordered.

We shall see this weekend…

Go Texans!