The Houston Texans underwent significant roster changes from the past two seasons. Most of them were due to players losing their confidence as the moribund franchise drifted rudderless in the doldrums of a rebuild.
Not every player could grin and bear it. Even receiver Brandin Cooks had his breaking point.
One player that found his way out of Houston was defensive end Charles Omenihu. The former 2019 fifth-rounder from Texas, who had a promising rookie season with 3.0 sacks and two forced fumbles followed up by 4.0 sacks in 2020, struggled in Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 scheme. Houston traded Omenihu to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2023 sixth-round pick at the trade deadline.
According to Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus, Omenihu would make sense as an underrated free agent for teams looking for a veteran defensive end. Monson uses the juxtaposition of the New Orleans Saints’ Marcus Davenport to argue that Omenihu, who had a career-high 4.5 sacks in 2022, would be a better deal than Davenport.
Nick Bosa enjoyed a Defensive Player of the Year season for the San Francisco 49ers with 98 pressures across 19 games, but Omenihu quietly had an excellent year on the other side. The former fifth-round draft pick set new career highs for snaps (659), pressures (62) and defensive stops (13), and he now has back-to-back seasons with a 75.0-plus PFF pass-rushing grade. At just 25 years old, Omenihu should be entering his prime and could be a much better gamble than one on Davenport.
There are two hurdles in bringing back Omenihu. The first would be assessing whether he would be willing to give Houston another chance given they hired his former defensive coordinator, DeMeco Ryans, as their new coach. Omenihu has a chance to retain the progress he built with Ryans and doesn’t have to adjust to Steve Wilks’ new system, pending the 49ers re-sign Omenihu.
The second hurdle is Omenihu’s legal issues. Houston may be adding a veteran who would miss time for potential violations of the league’s personal conduct policy. At that point, it would be prudent to allow second-year defensive end Thomas Booker the space to flourish rather than force an Omenihu-Ryans reunion.
