27-year old Owen Daniels is the key at TE for the Texans.  He has really turned into one of Matt Schaub’s favorite targets in the passing game.  He played in 8 games (all starts) for the Texans last season and he caught 40 passes for 519 yards (13.0 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Daniels has now played in 54 games (52 starts) in his four years in the NFL and he has caught 207 passes for 2,501 yards (12.1 avg) with 15 TD grabs.  The Texans need Daniels to stay healthy all year long as he is still recovering from surgery that caused him to miss half of last season.

27-year old Joel Dreessen stepped up last season when Daniels went down to injury.  He played in 16 games (11 starts) for the Texans last season and he caught 26 passes for 320 yards (12.3 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Dreessen has now played in 59 games (14 starts) in his NFL career and he has caught 46 passes for 493 yards (10.7 avg) with 3 TD grabs. 

25-year old James Casey didn’t do much as a rookie last season for the Texans.  He played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Texans last season and he only caught 6 passes for 64 yards (10.7 avg).  Casey will need to pick up his play if he wants to get on the field much in 2010.

Rookie Garrett Graham is a big target at 6′3″, 250 pounds out of Wisconsin.  The Texans picked him in the 4th round so he will get every opportunity to show what he can do in the pre-season and training camp.  He will have to likely help out on special teams before he earns P.T. at TE.

25-year old Anthony Hill was a rookie last season and he didn’t show much.  Hill played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Texans last season and he caught 1 pass for 9 yards.  He will have to step it up if he wants to keep getting paid to play football.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TEXANS TEs in 2010:  A

28-year old Vonta Leach and 29-year old Justin Griffith will handle fullback for the Texans in 2010.  Leach, at 6′0″, 246 pounds, is the classic fullback.  He is a good blocker in the running game and he’s a solid receiver out of the backfield.  Leach played in 16 games (4 starts) for the Texans last season and he caught 20 passes for 155 yards (7.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He did not carry the ball last year.  Leach has now played in 82 games (38 starts) in his NFL career in which he has carried the ball 3 times for 3 yards (1.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also has caught 68 passes for 446 yards (6.6 avg) with 4 TD grabs in his career.  Griffin is smaller than Leach (5′11″, 232 pounds) but he is a bigger threat with the ball in his hands as he’s like having a second tailback in the backfield when he is in the game.  Griffin played in 13 games (11 starts) for the Seahawks last season in which he carried the ball 19 times for 118 yards (6.2 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 4 passes for 6 yards (1.5 avg).  Griffith has now played in 96 games (73 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 94 times for 413 yards (4.4 ypc) with 1 run.  He has also caught 141 passes for 989 yards (7.0 avg) with 12 TD grabs in his career.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TEXANS FBs in 2010:  B

Steve Slaton, Arian Foster and rookie Ben Tate likely will start training camp on even footing giving all three of them a fair shot at being the featured back.  24-year old Steve Slaton had a neck injury last season that caused him to be ineffective running the ball and it might have led to his fumbling problem.  If he can get back to his rookie form he can win the starting job.  He played in 11 games (10 starts) last season for the Texans in which he carried the ball 131 times for 437 yards (3.3 ypc) with 3 TD runs and he also caught 50 passes for 377 yards (7.5 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 27 games (25 starts) in his NFL career in which he has carried the ball 399 times for 1,719 yards (4.3 ypc) with 12 TD runs.  Slaton has also caught 94 passes for 794 yards (8.4 avg) with 5 TD grabs in his career.  Even if Slaton wins the starting job the Texans would keep the other two backs heavily involved because he’s not a big guy.

23-year old Arian Foster was a undrafted free agent out of Tennessee last season.  He played in 6 games (1 start) for the Texans last season and he carried the ball 54 times for 257 yards (4.8 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Foster also caught 8 passes for 93 yards (11.6 avg) last year.  Foster really played well last season for the Texans which gives him a decent shot at a lot of P.T. in 2010.

2nd round pick Ben Tate was a need pick for the Texans as they aren’t totally confident in Slaton or Foster being able to handle the featured role in a offense.  Tate has been exactly that at Auburn who plays in the best conference in college football.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TEXANS RBs in 2010:  C

28-year old QB Matt Schaub can’t do much better than he did last season.  He played in all 16 games for the Texans last year and he completed 396 of 583 passes (67.9%) for 4,770 yards with 29 TD passes and 15 INTs (98.6 QB Rating).  Schaub also carried the ball 48 times for 57 yards (1.2 ypc) last year.  The Texans fell just one game short of the playoffs last season but they can’t blame that on Schaub who was electric.  If he has some help from the running game in 2010 the Texans might make their first venture into the NFL playoffs in 2010.  Schaub has now played in 76 games in his NFL career in which he has completed 923 of 1,413 passes (65.3%) for 11,087 yards with 59 TD passes and 40 INTs (91.3 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 120 times for 300 yards (2.5 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his career.  Schaub is 19-21 (47.5%) as a starting QB in the NFL and the Texans hope that record improves a lot in 2010.

The Texans had better hope that Schaub stays healthy because his backup will be 26-year old Dan Orlovsky.  He didn’t get in any games last season for the Texans and he last played in a game in 2008 with the Lions.  Orlovsky has played in 12 games in his NFL career 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).  He has also carried the ball 7 times for 29 yards (4.1 ypc) in his career.  Orlovsky has a 0-7 record as a starting QB in the NFL.

25-year old John David Booty will be the likely #3 QB for the Texans in 2010 and he has never taken a snap in the NFL. 

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TEXANS QBs in 2010:  A 

The Houston Texans really need Matt Schaub to stay healthy with Sage Rosenfels getting traded to the Vikings in the off-season.  Schaub definately has big time talent as he has a good throwing arm and he’s careful with the football.  The Texans can finally get over the 8-8 hump if Schaub plays a complete schedule which is something he’s never done in the NFL to date.  The new backup QB is Dan Orlovsky who served the same role for the Lions last season.  Orlovsky got a lot of playing time in 2008 but he obviously didn’t win any games.  Still, the overall talent will be better around him this season so he would probably be close to a average QB if forced into duty.  2nd year QB Alex Brink will be around again in 2009 to hold a clipboard.  He’s a dink and dunk type passer without much of a arm.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON:  B-