Houston Texans: Three players due for a breakout against the Patriots

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HOUSTON, TX – OCTOBER 01: Dylan Cole #51 of the Houston Texans (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Player #3: Dylan Cole

The acquisition of Dylan Cole to the Houston Texans has to be one of Rick Smith’s best moves as an executive on the way out. Although Brian Gaine hasn’t been too keen on having a lot of undrafted free agents around — he even so much as said so discreetly in his introductory press conference — this was the hallmark of the Smith-era.

Smith always felt that the could fill the roster with a bunch of these types of guys who are just glad they’ve made it to the pros without being drafted. This does help with the team’s payroll costs year-over-year but the quality of the product on the field diminishes. That’s what we were seeing over these last few seasons.

Gaine seems weary of bringing in projects and wants guys who are ready to produce, RIGHT

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NOW. That’s understandable because when one makes that decision for strategy to build a roster, it means they’re absolutely serious about winning and doing so in big-time fashion.

But Cole, a 6-foot-1, 240-pound linebacker out Missouri State is guy that will be a face on the Houston Texans defensive line for quite some time. His ability to learn his craft and get better with it so quickly demonstrates how badly he wanted to prove that NFL teams — including than the Texans — made 253 mistakes by not selecting him in the 2017 NFL Draft.

He’s fast, he’s strong and he pounces on his assignments like a vulture and has truly become one of favorite players on the team so far. It’s not easy being the underdog but he seems to have embraced the role of it quite well.

Now I’m not sure to extent of how much he’ll be used Sunday but it’ll be mostly in relief for Zach Cunningham. There’s no doubt that his mark will be made when he’s out there. Cole is part of an elite and devastating pass rush on this team that I could put up against ANY QUARTERBACK in this league! It’s insane that this guy went undrafted as well.

According to PFF, through only 30 snaps in the first two preseason games, Cole received the highest defensive score (94.3), as well as with his pass rush (97.9). Those near-perfect scores align with one hurry, one batted pass, three tackles — one assisted — including one tackle-for-loss. He was targeted twice and quarterbacks had a 60.4 rating against him. These numbers are BEASTLY in every sense of the word and I’m looking forward to what will be his coming-out party in 2018.

Three Patriots that will give the Texans a hard time. dark. Next

So these are my top three players due for a breakout, what are yours? Feel free to sound off below!

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