The Houston Texans provided new coach DeMeco Ryans with reinforcements for his edge defense.
Houston picked Alabama defensive end Will Anderson No. 3 overall on Day 1, and then started off Day 3 with taking TCU defensive end No. 109 overall in Round 4.
Even Horton has the ability to play in coverage as he did in the Horned Frogs’ defense last year, general manager Nick Caserio envisions the 6-4, 257-pounder being more of a defensive end along the line of scrimmage in Ryans’ scheme.
“Look, him dropping into coverage isn’t necessarily like a strength of his,” Caserio said. “Now, it’s something that he’s done. Does that help him relative to what we’re going to ask him to do and teach him? Probably not. With a lot of players, not just Dylan, but what we’re going to ask them to do may be a little bit different than what they’ve done previously in their system.”
The Texans are staying with a four-man front, a leftover from the Lovie Smith deployment of the Tampa 2 scheme over the past two seasons. However, how Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke implement their four-man front will be different.
As such, Horton will need to make adjustments to his game.
Said Caserio: “I’d say we’re going to probably more of a four-man front. So with four down linemen, probably play with his hand on the ground more than he would play from up or in a spatial alignment. Now, he’s been a back to front. He was a safety or whatever he was. He kind of gradually moved towards the line of scrimmage. Again, the viewpoint of the game, when you’re — it’s more about spatial awareness and spatial understanding, but then when you’re playing defensive end, it’s really specific. It’s a little bit less space, less multiples, then you’re focused on the player that’s in front of you.”
Horton generated 51 combined tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, four pass breakups, and a forced fumble through 15 games for TCU last season.
