Trade Options
The trade deadline has been pushed back until after week 8 of the regular season so that does give the Texans some leeway in terms of looking for a player to trade for if they are so inclined, but that is unlikely to happen. For one, a team would have to be okay with giving up a starter or even depth (more likely a backup) from their starting roster and most teams won’t be too excited about that.
Secondly, you are a buyer and this will be a seller’s market so the Texans would have to give up more than they would like for what might only be a band-aid. Lastly, if a team traded a player, that player would need to be near the end of their contract so the trading team doesn’t incur much of a cap hit when they trade that player.
With all of that said, I’ve decided to dig down deep and find some potential players whom the Texans could target for trade if they were so inclined.
1. Tavares Gooden, ILB, 49′ers - Gooden is a terrific athlete, but he plays behind Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman so he won’t be starting anytime soon unless there is an injury. The 49′ers signed Gooden to a 1 year deal last year. I don’t know if the 49′ers would even consider moving Gooden since they are one of the best teams in the league, but if the Texans offered a 3rd rounder for their backup LB, they might have to take that deal. Gooden could also become a full-time starter next to Cushing in the future.
2. Brandon Siler, ILB, Chiefs - Siler is playing a backup ILB role with the Chiefs right now and was signed to a one year deal this past offseason. Siler spent 4 seasons with the Chargers, but only started 12 games. Siler probably isn’t good enough to make it into the starting lineup for the Texans, but he does have experience as an inside backer in the 3-4 and would provide decent depth at the position. I can’t imagine the trade price tag would be very high on a backup LB in the last year of his deal on a bad team.
3. Jonathan Vilma, ILB, Saints – Vilma isn’t the player he once was… not even close, but the Saints might be willing to move him for a very modest draft pick now that they’ve signed Curtis Lofton and have him playing in the middle. Vilma is undersized and is trying to recover from knee surgeries so I can’t imagine the Texans would be too worked up over landing him.