Houston Texans: Team must sign D.J. Reader to a new contract

Houston Texans nose tackle D.J. Reader is a free agent and the team must re-sign such an emerging as well as reliable talent. Will it happen? It should.

It’s the offseason for the Houston Texans and a lot of decisions need to be made in terms of how this team will be shaped for the 2020 season. A lot of early decisions have been made about the roster, particularly the with re-sign of Whitney Mercilus and Bryan Anger to longer-term deals.

There even has been re-alignment in the front office with the Houston Texans firing long-time senior vice president Chris Olsen and inserting Jack Easterby as the executive vice president of football operations.

Easterby is Bill O’Brien‘s right-hand man and I knew it was just a matter of time before he’d be promoted to a higher role. Easterby served as the executive vice president of team development this season and was the New England Patriots’ development director/character coach from 2013-18.

In the same move, O’Brien has promoted himself to the general manager of the Houston Texans which gives him a ridiculous amount of power over the team’s direction.

But all in all, the moves that he engineered last season were mostly fruitful, trading Jadeveon Clowney for Jacob Martin, Barkevious Mingo and Gareon Conley, who all were solid contributors to this team this season.

He also swapped the underperforming Martinas Rankin for Carlos Hyde, who had arguably the best season of his career, hitting the century mark for the first time in terms of rushing yards.

And finally, he made the trade heard around the world with Miami Dolphins, acquired Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills while giving up future early-round draft picks for 2020-21. Stills was a great replacement for Will Fuller, who missed extensive time with various injuries this season.

But one of the most important signings that the Houston Texans need to make is to bring back nose tackle D.J. Reader.

Reader has been phenomenal since being drafted by the Houston Texans out of Clemson in the 5th round back in 2016.

He had the year of understudy with Vince Wilfork which definitely expedited his development and

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has taken off from there.

He is one of the top nose tackles in this league and I think the Houston Texans should invest in his services.

His ability to disrupt offenses and offer notable pass-rushing help are the qualities that this team must keep around in D.J.

Reader has also been nominated for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his outstanding work in the community. He’s the type of model player that you want to have on your roster so I don’t see why the Houston Texans wouldn’t want to bring him back.

We’ll have to see what happens but I think he will be back.

Next. Texans: O'Brien's usurp of power has just gotten ridiculous. dark

Reader, 25, accumulated 52 combined tackles — 28 solos — along with 2.5 sacks, six tackles-for-loss and 13 quarterback hits.

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