When Nick Caserio drafted Derek Stingley Jr. over Sauce Gardner I thought they got it wrong. But they didn’t. Sting is now considered the top CB in the NFL.
When they drafted Kamari Lassiter I was hopefully optimistic he would contribute. He definitely has.
When Calen Bullock heard his name called, I smiled cause he has a cool name and great rep. He’s put shine on both since that day.
When they took Jalen Pitre, I knew we landed a dog, but didn’t know just how much fight was in him. Answer: a LOT.
Those 4 names alone make one of the most formidable secondaries in NFL history. And, those 4 men all contributed greatly to last season’s #1 defense.
A lot of teams would have been content to hang tight, lock down those players the way those players lock down the field. But, not your Houston Texans.
Nope. Head coach and defensive guru DeMeco Ryans didn’t think it was time to call it good. Nick Caserio made some calls of his own, and landed safety Reed Blankenship.
Unlike his new teammates, Blankenship didn’t hear his name called on draft day, signing with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted rookie free agent soon after.
Normally, unsigned rookie free agent safeties don’t make a name for themselves in the NFL.
Blankenship apparently doesn’t adhere to what’s normal.
By the end of his 4-year stint with the Eagles, Blankenship accrued 50 starts, 308 combined tackles, 204 solo stops, 23 passes defensed, 9 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries and 1 forced fumble.
Just to put it in perspective, the 5 men that now make up the Houston Texans starting secondary have combined for 50 regular season interceptions.
And none of them are more than 4 seasons deep in their career.
If anyone has been paying attention to how defenses work in the NFL, the more pressure the front 7 can put on the quarterback, the better the playmaking opportunities the back 5 get. When your front 7 includes Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, Henry To’o’To’o and Sheldon Rankins, expect those opportunities to come in bunches.
The 2025 version of this defense plucked 19 interceptions out of the air during the regular season.
With the addition of Blankenship and another year to gel, don’t be surprised if they set a far higher mark in 2026.
The 1961 San Diego Chargers hold the record for most defensive interceptions in a single season at 49. That’s one of those “no one will ever break that” sort of records. But if any team in recent memory has a shot at it, it’s the 2026 Texans.
