The one area where the Houston Texans were stellar last season defensively was takeaways. Despite finishing 3-13-1, the Texans were in the top-10. The rest of Houston’s defense left a lot to be desired, which is why coach Lovie Smith got the boot and the Texans hired former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans.
The Texans may actually have one of the better slot defenses in 2023, and it has to do with existing talent and also talent acquisition.
According to Doug Farrar from the Touchdown Wire, cornerback Tavierre Thomas is the best slot defender in the NFL, and uses some of Thomas’ highlights last season to make his case.
Whether he’s matching receivers deep, as he did against Parris Campbell of the Colts on this pass deflection in Week 18…
…or reading the quick pass and blowing it up, as he did against CeeDee Lamb of the Cowboys in Week 14…
Farrar also goes on to mention Ward, who comes in at No. 3 on the list:
Last season, the 49ers ranked second in the NFL behind only the Patriots with 652 snaps in which they had three safeties on the field. When you have Tashaun Gipson Sr., Talanoa Hufanga, and Jimmie Ward in your defense, that makes a ton of sense. In 2022, Gipson and Hufanga were underrated assets in deep coverage in DeMeco Ryans’ defense, while Ward was the pointman in the slot. Last season in slot coverage, Ward allowed 65 catches on 80 targets from the slot for 516 yards, 319 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 91.5.
With the Texans’ defense having two stupendous slot corners in Thomas and Ward, it should allow their pass defense packages to remain versatile.