Houston Texans: Predicting the 2017 53-Man Roster by Position
Tight Ends
Tight Ends (3) — C.J. Fiedorowicz, Ryan Griffin and Stephen Anderson
There was a tad bit of a competition for Anderson‘s job but Fiedorowicz and Griffin’s are secured by far as they were nice targets for our offense last season. Griffin just signed a three-year, $9 million deal in the offseason and Fiedorowicz is in the last year of his rookie deal.
He’s looking to build off a record season where he was targeted 89 times and caught 54 balls for 554 yards. Anderson, when fully healthy, is a solid tight end that can help us tremendously with his blocking on special teams so he certainly deserves a spot.
CUTS: ReShaun Allen and Evan Baylis
Offensive Line
Offensive Line (9) — Duane Brown, Xavier Su’a-Filo, Nick Martin, Greg Mancz, David Quessenberry, Kendall Lamm, Breno Giacomini, Jeff Allen and Julién Davenport
This is young, rather inexperienced unit that will be tested this season. Brown is still holding out on his contract dispute so his availability remains up in the air. Martin and Mancz have had a extremely good camp so their hearty contributions won’t be doubted. Quessenberry has a firm grasp of the offense and it’s absolutely amazing to see him compete considering his years-long battle with cancer.
Lamm and Giacomini have proven to be valuable contributors to the position so I definitely have them making the team. Allen just has improve on a terrible year he had at right guard but he has a new regimen and has slimmed down a bit to help with his readiness. Davenport will be learning on the fly but I’ve seen brilliant flashes out of him to warrant a roster spot for him.
CUTS: Chris Clark (contingent on Brown’s availability), Laurence Gibson, Erik Austell and Chad Slade
Defensive Linemen
Defensive Linemen (8) — Christian Covington, D.J. Reader, J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, Brandon Dunn, Joel Heath, Carlos Watkins, Eli Ankou
J.J. Watt is back and he’s in full form out there on the field for the Houston Texans, stopping and sacking just about everything he sees. It’s like he’s preparing to devour his prey once the season gets rolling. Clowney is certainly ready to build off of last year’s emergence and it will be interesting to see how he’s used with Watt, whether at DE or OLB. Covington, Reader and Dunn have shown plenty in preseason indicating that they’re quite deserving of being on this team.
Heath, although injured most of the preseason, is a guy that I’d like to still carry because he his solid with his pass rushing. Watkins, this season’s 4th round draft pick, is primed to show what he has in his rookie season. I also liked what I saw with Ankou in the preseason with many of the run-stopping tackles that he made. In my opinion, because of our needs, he is guy that needs to be on the 53.