Since the Houston Texans returned to the land of relevance last season, one thing that GM Nick Caserio has shown he will do is dip into any pool of discarded players necessary in order to improve his football team’s roster. Last season, the waiver wire yielded the Texans players like Derek Barnett, Tear Tart, Adrian Amos and old friend Kareem Jackson.
So it should come as no surprise that, when veteran linebacker and former Super Bowl champion Devin White became available, Caserio went ahead and signed him, as reported on the team’s social media accounts on Wednesday morning:
White had a nice five year run in Tampa Bay, after being selected in the first round of the 2019 draft out of LSU. He was named second team All Pro after a 9.5 sack season in 2020, the Bucs’ Super Bowl season with Tom Brady, and was named to the 2021 Pro Bowl. In 2023, he got into a contract dispute with the Bucs, who eventually let him walk in free agency.
As it turned out, the Bucs were correct about White’s value on the open market, as he wound up signing a one year, $4 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. From underwhelming to worse, White ended up released in early October, having played exactly zero snaps for the Eagles.
So this is a truly distressed asset that the Texans are signing. We will find out more over the next few days, but this feels like an indicator that at least one, if not more, of the current linebacker injuries are going to be a problem for a while. Currently, Christian Harris is nursing a calf that’s had him out all season, while Azeez Al-Shaair (knee) and Henry To’o To’o (concussion) both missed the game in Green Bay.
White’s playing style most closely mirrors that of Harris, as White relies heavily on his athleticism and speed to make plays, so stylistically, perhaps that’s a tell as to how the team feels about Harris’ chances of coming back any time soon, if at all this season.
Up next in the acquisition department for Caserio, in the opinion of most Texans fans, is that he make some sort of signing or trade for help in the secondary, where the Texans have been ravaged with injuries, forcing them to start D’Angelo Ross at cornerback. Stay tuned, the trade deadline is Tuesday, November 5.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
