The Texans have released 27-year old QB Dan Orlovsky.  Orlovsky played in 1 game (0 starts) for the Texans last year and he didn’t throw a pass or carry the ball.  Orlovsky has played in 13 games (7 starts) in his first six years in the NFL and he has completed 150 of 272 passes (55.1%) for 1,679 yards with 8 TD passes and 8 INTs (71.3 QB Rating).  Orlovsky also has carried the ball 7 times for 29 yards (4.1 ypc) in his career.  Orlovsky is 0-7 as a starting QB in the NFL, so the Texans decided it was better to go with Matt Leinart as the backup QB in 2011.

The Houston Texans have signed 28-year old safety Danieal Manning to a 5-year, $20 million dollar deal.  Manning played in all 16 games for the Bears last year and he had 72 tackles, 1 interception and he defensed 7 passes.  He has now played in 77 games in his first five years in the NFL and he has 346 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 26 passes defensed and 7 interceptions.  This was a good signing for the Texans as Manning is a pretty solid safety.

The Texans have re-signed 28-year old QB Matt Leinart.  He will once again battle Dan Orlovsky for the #2 QB job for the Texans in 2011.  Leinart didn’t get into any games in his first year with the Texans in 2010.  Leinart has played in 29 games (17 starts) in his first four years in the NFL and he has completed 340 of 595 passes (57.1%) for 3,893 yards with 14 TD passes and 20 INTs (70.8 QB Rating).  Leinart has also carried the ball 46 times for 90 yards (2.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his NFL career.  Leinart is 7-10 (41.2%) as a starting QB in the NFL.  Leinart tested the free agent market before coming back to the Texans as he didn’t find much interest in his services.

Domanick Davis only played three seasons before blowing out his knee, which eventually ended his playing career.  Davis played in 40 games for the Texans and he carried the ball 770 times for 3,195 yards (4.1 ypc) with 23 TD runs.  He also caught 154 passes for 1,276 yards (8.3 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Despite only being with the Texans for three years, Davis is the all-time leader in both rushing yards (3,195) and rushing TDs (23).  Davis is also #5 in receptions (154), #6 in receiving yards (1,276) and he’s tied for 9th in TD receptions (5) in Texans’ history.  Arian Foster is likely to bump Davis down a bit in the rankings, but that doesn’t dimish the fact that Davis was a darn good football player before getting injured.