Bernardrick McKinney anchors the middle of the Texans defense. Bob Levey/Getty Images
If I had to pick one position group as my favorite it would be this one. These players represent all of the right pieces to control the game near the line of scrimmage and keep a lot of what happens in front of them. They have pass rushers with double digit sack potential, they have thumpers in the middle who can clog the rush lanes, and they have guys with coverage ability on tight ends and running backs. With this group on the field the defense can really help every part of the team.
Yes, 2017 was a down year for the Texans pass rush. J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus went down with season ending injuries and took about 15-20 sacks away from the defense. That left the team exposed and the bulk of the work to Jadeveon Clowney. He played every spot in the front seven last year as a creative way to get him in position to make plays. Not knowing where he would line up kept the opposing offenses off guard on the protection calls. That will continue this year where he will probably play a lot more snaps standing up at an outside linebacker.
Mercilus is back and he will apply the pressure that helps Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crennel use his personnel with maximum effectiveness. Having him and Clowney on the field at the same time is going to make it hard for offenses to set the edge. But Clowney won’t always be standing up on the outside with Whitney so it’s good that the Texans still have Brennan Scarlett to hold down a back-up role. He is entering his third season and has developed well for an undrafted free agent.
Also returning to the team this year is Ufomba Kamalu, the NFL’s largest outside linebacker at 6’6” 295 lbs. He’s a former defensive end who got some starting experience due to injury last year. He did well in his nine games overall and can continue to learn the position while serving as a pass rush specialist when called upon. He will be back on the field with LaTroy Lewis, another young player who saw game action last season and seemed to make the most of it.
The Texans are also bringing in a few rookies to add some competition for depth. They drafted Duke Ejiofor from Wake Forest in the sixth round this year. Later in the same round they selected Peter Kalambayi from Stanford. Late round picks don’t always work out but taking two of them in the draft is another example of Brian Gaine sending a clear message that there is room for the young guys to fight for a position. That includes undrafted rookie Davin Bellamy, who played his college ball at Georgia.
If the outside linebackers have the talent and depth to do their jobs well then the inside linebackers should be free to terrorize the middle of the field. That starts with the proud holder of a new contract, Benardrick McKinney. His ability on the inside has been a constant for the defense in his time. He will continue to get better and boost the play of those around him.
Second year man Zach Cunningham will benefit the most from playing alongside McKinney and vice versa. Cunningham was a stand-out rookie with 90 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 6 passes defensed. He’s versatile in this defense and is key to making the starting linebackers the best position group on the team.
Returning to fill out the inside position are Brian Peters and Dylan Cole; two able-bodied players who did well last year. But when you have starters like McKinney and Cunningham it gives you leverage to bring in plenty competition in training camp. That’s why the Texans have Ben Heeney, Josh Keyes, and Kennan Gilchrist on the team. The back-up role will be important for the long season ahead and if they have it right the defense can reclaim its spot near the top of the rankings.
Getting the most out of the linebackers is essential to Romeo Crennel’s defensive scheme. But the new NFL is requiring a lot more out of the position. The versatility of Jadeveon Clowney as an outside linebacker and Zach Cunningham on the inside are in line with the new way. Benardrick McKinney and Whitney Mercilus represent the old way of playing the position, and they do it at a high level. The linebackers will be all over the field and be a big part of the reason the team wins the close games they lost in 2017.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
Astros betting big on their biggest advantage tonight
Jul 8, 2025, 12:03 pm
Adding a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber was too valuable an opportunity for the Houston Rockets to pass up, even though it meant moving on from Jalen Green just four seasons after they drafted him second overall.
Durant was officially acquired from Phoenix on Sunday in a complicated seven-team transaction that sent Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns and brought Clint Capela back to Houston from the Hawks.
General manager Rafael Stone is thrilled to add the future Hall of Famer, who will turn 37 in September, to a team which made a huge leap last season to earn the second seed in the Western Conference.
Asked Monday why he wanted to add Durant to the team, Stone smiled broadly before answering.
“He’s Kevin Durant,” Stone said. “He’s just — he’s really good. He’s super-efficient. He had a great year last year. He’s obviously not 30 anymore, but he hasn’t really fallen off and we just think he has a chance to really be impactful for us.”
But trading Green to get him was not an easy decision for Stone, Houston’s general manager since 2020.
“Jalen’s awesome, he did everything we asked,” Stone said. “He’s a wonderful combination of talent and work ethic along with being just a great human being. And any time that you have the privilege to work with someone who is talented and works really hard and is really nice, you should value it. And organizationally we’ve valued him tremendously, so yeah very hard.”
Green was criticized for his up-and-down play during the postseason when the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors in seven games in the first round. But Green had improved in each of his four seasons in Houston, leading the team in scoring last season and playing all 82 games in both of the past two seasons.
Pressed for details about why Green's time was up in Houston, Stone wouldn't get into specifics.
“It’s the NBA and you can only do trades if a certain amount of money goes out and a certain amount comes in and there’s some positional overlap or at least overlap in terms of on ball presence,” he said. “And so that’s what the deal required.”
In Durant, the Rockets get a veteran of almost two decades who averaged 26.6 points and six rebounds a game last season and has a career average of 27.2 points and seven rebounds.
Houston loves the veteran experience and presence that Durant brings. Stone noted that the team had arranged for some of its players to work out with him in each of the past two offseasons.
“His work ethic is just awesome,” Stone said. “The speed at which he goes, not in a game … but the speed at which he practices and the intensity at which he practices is something that has made him great over the years and it started when he was very young. So of all the things that I hope rubs off, that’s the main one I think is that practice makes perfect. And I think one of the reasons he’s had such an excellent career is because of the intensity with which he works day in day out.”
Durant is a 15-time All-Star and four-time scoring champion, who was the Finals MVP twice. The former Texas Longhorn is one of eight players in NBA history to score at least 30,000 points and he won NBA titles in 2017 and 2018 with the Warriors.
Now he’ll join a team chasing its first NBA title since winning back-to-back championships in 1994-95.
“Everything has to play out, but we do — we like the fit,” Stone said. “We think it works well. We think he will add to us and we think we will help him.”