The Houston Texans don’t have an identifiable superstar on their roster the way they did even two years ago, but they still have young players working against each other to become the best versions of themselves.
Defensive end Jonathan Greenard is one of them. The former 2020 third-rounder from Florida generated 8.0 sacks in 2021, the most by a Texans defense since 2019 when outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus had 7.5. Greenard was able to produce those numbers in 12 games, which creates great expectations as to what he can do in his third season with more playing time.
The Texans signed former Buffalo Bills defensive linemen Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison to supplement what Greenard is able to cultivate from the edge. Hughes and Addison also give him pointers as to how he can beat fellow starters Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard on the edge.
“It’s great,” Greenard said after the fourth day of training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center on Tuesday. “Obviously now you’re going against the best in the game obviously. And the things that you learned from Jerry and Rio [Addison] you can just translate over right then and there.”
Greenard will take the advice that Hughes and Addison gives him and then see how it compares on film. Greenard will also share his findings with Howard and Tunsil to help them become better tackles.
“You’re going to go up against the best of the best,” said Greenard. “So, every single time they tell me something, I just kind of look at it on film and see how Tytus and L.T. [Tunsil] are giving me and me and L.T. and Tytus, we all talk.”
Greenard, Tunsil, and Howard collaborate to provide the best information on how the tackles can best defend the edge, and also how Greenard can get around tackles and effectively pressure opposing quarterbacks.
Said Greenard: “That’s the thing about it. We are all just basically giving pointers on how I would approach them and they would approach me. That’s going to help both of us more than before. Iron sharpens iron. We all know that.”
The Texans will need as much information sharing as possible as they seek to win more than four games for this first time since 2019.
