Houston Texans Rumors: Five bold trades the team needs to explore
By T.A. Mock
Donald Penn, OT, Oakland Raiders
That’s right, either as a part of a potential Clowney trade for its own separate deal, the Houston Texans need to target Donald Penn. Penn fell out of favor with the new coaching staff last year as the Raiders opted to go younger at the position when they drafted Kolton Miller in the first round to be their left tackle of the present and future.
This moved Penn, a career-long left tackle, to the right side of the line. Penn started the first four games of the season at right tackle be he, unfortunately, went down for the year with an injury. This is the first major time Penn missed in his career.
In his rookie year in 2007 with the Buccanneers, he played in all 16 games and started in 12. After that, he went on a nine-year stretch where he started 16 games every year for the Buccanneers and Raiders. The ended in 2017 when he started another 14 games in a row before getting shut down the final two games of the year. All of that adds up to 170 consecutive games started.
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Penn has been very, very good for both the Buccanneers and the Raiders since 2007. 2018 was his first rough year but switching to a new side of the offensive line isn’t always simple. Plus, he was still slightly banged up those four games.
Now, the Raiders inked Trent Brown to the richest offensive lineman deal in NFL history to be their left tackle and are moving Miller to the right side. That leaves Penn on the outside looking in at tackle. They could try to move him inside to guard but after their trade for Antonio Brown, they may want a mid-tier pick.
The Houston Texans should jump all over the opportunity to add Penn. He comes at a very reasonable cost, both in terms of salary and acquisition cost. He’s 36 and coming off of an injury so that should drive down the price and he has said he wanted to retire following the end of his contract, which has one year left. So, whether it be to come in and start or provide depth and mentor some young tackles, Penn would be well worth it.