Houston Texans: Four unrestricted free agents the team must re-sign
Free Agent #1: Christian Covington
After storming his way onto the scene in 2015 as rookie, Christian Covington is now a free agent and I’d have to say that the Houston Texans were able to get immense value considering how low he was drafted.
A sixth-round pick out of Rice U, Covington has really found his niche in Romeo Crennel’s defense and continues to find a way to make his presence known out on the football field. Some of his past seasons have been marred with injuries but when he’s healthy, he’s a fierce pass-rusher that many don’t want to deal with.
I’ve always felt that Covington was a pick that Crennel lobbied hard for and the proof is in the pudding that the 25-year-old definitely should be brought back in the fold to run it back.
Covington’s 2018 campaign wasn’t as good as the season previous but he had four sacks and 17 pressures — the most of his career — along with nine QB hurries, four QB hits, 11 run stops and just one missed tackle through 281 snaps on the season.
According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Covington had a 72.6 overall grade — down from 87.4 in 2017 — 70.1 run defense, 75.4 tackling, 62.6 pass rush grade and 72.3 in coverage. That still puts him in the Top 50 of interior defensive linemen as he’s ranked 45th with the minute amount of snaps he had this season.
But let’s be real, he’s not going to command a ton of money and there’s not a market drooling for his services but I think he’s a great fit in what the Houston Texans do and I think he should take the Houston Texans for another spin.