The Houston Texans reached a little bit in picking DE Connor Barwin in the 2nd round when most experts had him pegged for the 4th or 5th round.  In his first three seasons at Cincinnati, Barwin has a TE but he excelled after converting to defense as a senior.  Barwin played in 14 games (all starts) for the Bearcats last season and he made 53 tackles, had 16 tackles for a loss, had 11 sacks and he batted down 8 balls.  Barwin is a tad small for DE at 6′3″, 253 but he’s fast (4.64 40).  Barwin is raw but he has a nice upside.

The Texans wanted to improve the defense and they did just that when they selected outside linebacker Brian Cushing in the first round of the NFL Draft.  Cushing is 6′3″, 243 pounds and he runs a 4.6 40.  He plays full throttle on every play and that will likely rub off on his teammates.  Cushing played in 44 games (38 starts) in his 4 years at USC and he made 178 tackles, 27 tackles for a loss, had 8.5 sacks, he broke up 12 passes and he had 1 interception.  Look for the Texans to turn him loose against opposing QBs in 2009.

The Texans have signed 25-year old linebacker Buster Davis to a 1-year deal.  Davis played in 6 games for the Colts last year and he made 24 tackles.  He has now played in 7 games in his NFL career making 24 tackles.  Davis will likely help out the Texans with depth on defense and special teams in 2009.

The Texans have signed 29-year old linebacker Cato June to a 1-year, $1.5 million dollar contract with incentives.  June played in all 16 games for the Buccaneers last season and he made 67 tackles, defensed 2 passes and had 1 interception.  He has now played in 88 games in his NFL career and he has made 499 tackles, defensed 24 passes, has 1 sack, he’s forced 3 fumbles and he has 12 interceptions (2 of which he returned for TDs).  This was a good signing for the Texans as June makes a lot of big plays on defense.