DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Lisfranc? Is that French? We call it "Freedom foot."

Aug 13, 2007 2007 Draft, Injury bug, Ohio State makes baby Jesus cry, Preseason 2007, Secondary issues are primary, Van Crap, Von

By now, you’ve no doubt heard that starting strong safety Glenn Earl is lost for the season (at minimum–Lisfranc injuries can be exceedingly hard to come back from). Now, while the secondary was thin to begin with, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this injury was a good thing for the team. Addition by subtraction, if you will.

It’s not that Earl was bad. He is passably decent against the run and can deliver a big hit from time to time.¹ Of course, he also got destroyed Saturday night by a truck called Cedric Benson, so he’s not exactly Ronnie Lott.

The real problem is the current tandem of Earl and C.C. Brown gives the Texans no true free safety. Brown is better served in the strong safety position–he’s a hitter, but he bites on way too many play action passes (you saw it Saturday if you were looking for it), and he tackles better than Earl.

Thankfully, it seems most of the early reactions suggest that Brown will slide over to strong safety. So, who takes the free safety role?

The early leader in the race is Von Hutchins. A converted corner, Hutchins had that nice pick off of Brian Greise Saturday night. I suppose, given the options we have on the table right now, he would be my choice. The downside is that he’s a little small (5′9″) and doesn’t have much of a track record, so he’s an unknown quantity at best.

Another possibility is Brandon Harrison, the rookie out of Stanford. Technically, he is a strong safety, which kind of puts us in the position we were with Earl/Brown out there. He’s a big kid, though (6′2″/227), and if he can show a nose for the ball, he’d be an intriguing prospect. My concern with him, as I’ve said before, is that I really don’t see him being a DB for long. He strikes me as a Cato June type–as in he’s going to fill out a little more and be more of a nickel LB when it’s all said and done–and he has a reputation for being afraid of making the big hit.

For a third choice, Scott broke the news that the team was bringing in Shaun Williams for a workout. Unfortunately, as Scott points out, Williams is better against the run than the pass and has been described as “reckless.” Sure, that would be better than, say, bringing in Matt Stevens–of course, I would be better than Matt Stevens–but it’s not necessarily a panacea.

Other possibilities include Dexter McCleon and Brandon Mitchell² [edit: and Jason Simmons.] So, yeah, I guess you could say the position is still up for grabs.

One interesting (if slightly tongue-in-cheek) suggestion floating around the message board was moving Bradlee Van Pelt from QB to FS. He’s big enough (6′2″/220), his father was a linebacker, he has some anger management issues (remember him spiking the ball off the face of a Colorado defender?) that suggest he might have the right temperament for defense, and–best of all–he intercepted his own pass the other night. In fact, he originally enrolled at Michigan State, where they converted him to defensive back. Skills, baby! Clearly, this one isn’t going to happen, but I don’t think it’s a horrible suggestion. The kid is not an NFL QB… why not give him a chance to play somewhere else? It’d be like Rick Ankiel, only without Bradlee ever having shown promise at his original position.

My guess, when all is said and done, is that Hutchins wins the job. And if he plays like has so far in camp and preseason, I am fine with that. I just can’t help wondering if we are not overlooking some better possibilities.

¹ See, e.g., the lick he put on Jeremy Shockey last year. (That’s a great picture.)
² I am still high on the Brandon Mitchell bandwagon, despite my hatred for OSU. I have a sneaking feeling he could be the answer, but I also doubt he will be given a real shot to prove it. So is life, I guess.

Author’s note: Sorry for the somewhat disjointed nature of this post. I wrote it in four or five separate sittings because jerks kept expecting me to actually work. At work. Jerks.