The Houston Texans have placed starting strong safety Glenn Earl and reserve DB Jason Horton on the Injured Reserve list ending their seasons.  Earl has a Lisfranc Injury in his foot and that’s ended a lot of players’ careers.  Earl played in 15 games last season for the Texans and he made 74 tackles, had 2 sacks, 1 interception, defensed 3 passes and forced a fumble.  Jason Horton did not play last season and he was trying to make the Texans as a reserve defensive back/special teams player.  He has played in 23 NFL games in his career and he has made 27 tackles and forced a fumble.  The Texans won’t miss Horton too much but losing Glenn Earl is going to leave a big mark in the secondary.

The Texans are going to move last season’s starting free safety (C.C. Brown) to strong safety to replace Earl.  Brown is a solid football player and he should be able to handle the switch easy.  Brown played in 15 games last season for the Texans and he made 76 tackles, had 1 sack, 1 interception, defended 4 passes, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.  He has been a solid player in the NFL over his career which now covers 31 games.  In those games he has made 155 tackles, has 1 sack, 2 interceptions, defensed 5 passes, forced 2 fumbles and recovered 1 fumble.  The Texans are expected to start Von Hutchins at free safety to replace Brown there.  He is a small guy who likely won’t help much at all against the run.  He is only 5’9″, 181 which will also cause him problems in defending TEs.  He only played in 3 games last season and he made 5 whole tackles.  He has now played in 22 games in his NFL career and he has made 56 tackles, has 1 interception (he returned it 77 yards for a TD) and he has defensed 1 pass.  Rookie Brandon Harrison out of Stanford could put up a fight with Hutchins for the starting job.  Stay Tuned.