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The Texans have signed offensive tackle Kevin Barry. He didn’t play last season with the Packers but he has the size at 6′4″, 332 pounds to be a productive backup for the Texans this season. He has played 5 seasons in the NFL and that covers 59 games, 8 of which he started.
The Texans have signed veteran WR Keenan McCardell to a 1-year, $860,000 dollar contract. This was a smart move as the Texans were light in WR depth. It’s very possible that McCardell could start opposite of Andre Johnson for the Texans. McCardell played in 14 games (11 starts) for the Chargers and he caught 36 passes for 437 yards (12.1 avg) with 0 TDs. He also carried the football 5 times for 39 yards (7.8 ypc). You don’t really think of McCardell when you think of elite WRs but he has put up incredible numbers in his NFL career. He has played in 199 NFL games (167 starts) and he has caught 861 passes (#9 all-time) for 11,117 yards (#50 all-time) with 62 TD grabs (T #50). He also has carried the football 29 times for 231 yards (7.5 ypc).
The Texans have placed starting left tackle Charles Spencer on the Physically Unable To Perform List which will cause him to miss the first six games of the season. Ephraim Salaam and Jordan Black will battle all pre-season to see who will win the starting job for now.
The Houston Texans have signed free agent punter Matt Turk to challenge Chad Stanley for the starting job. Turk played in all 16 games last season for the Rams and he punted the ball 72 times for 3,132 yards (43.5 avg). He pinned the opposition inside the their 20 yard line 26 times last season and he had a net average of 38.3 yards per punt. Chad Stanley did a decent job for the Texans last season. Stanley played in all 16 games for the Texans last season and he punted the ball 76 times for 3,161 yards (41.6 avg). He only pinned the opposition inside the 20 yard line 15 times and he had a net average of 36.7 yards per punt. Stanley will have to really kick well to hold off Turk for the starting job in 2007.
The Texans have signed WR/KR Bethel Johnson to a 1-year contact. He played in 11 games (2 starts) last season for the Vikings and he caught 9 passes for 156 yards (17.3 avg) with 0 TD grabs. He also carried the football 4 times for 8 yards (2.0 ypc). But the area that Johnson might help the Texans the most at is kickoff returns. He returned 45 kickoffs for 1,054 yards (23.4 avg) with 0 TDs last season. Johnson was a nice low risk/high reward signing for the Texans.