<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Free agent right tackle Ryan Harris will stay with the Texans. Sources: He signs a 1-year contract with Houston.</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/321376226524663809">April 8, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
No Winston. Been pretty quiet on Winston's front. Report today that Dallas is interested and could sign him.(There were conflicting reports on that, so who knows.) Mortensen tweeted that Winston said he's in the $3-4 mil range on short-term deal but negotiable.
Not sure what this means for the Texans OT draft projections. I doubt they take one early. On the other hadn they could just be bringing back Harris because they are unhappy with Newton's rehab after offseason surgery.
Newton's rehab is not really projected to be a factor. I think they have him penciled in as the starter at RT. If nothing else, assuming he's healthy, he should actually be better next year after a year of starting experience. My hunch is Kubiak really believes in Newton. Add to that Gardner, Mondek, and now Harris, i would bet that the Texans think one of those guys will develop into a quality backup (they may even view Harris that way right now). All this is to say that they might be thinking that they now have enough depth at the tackle position not to have to address it in the draft. They almost certainly won't take one before round 5, and it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't draft one at all. I'm not saying i agree with their point of view. To my mind, they have never put the emphasis on o-line that they should, and have been lulled into complacency by being lucky enough to have a relatively healthy o-line for many years. But our run game really struggled at times last year, and the right side had a lot to do with it. Assuming the reports of Brooks' weight loss are accurate, and Newton coming back healthy, I do think we will be better on the right side next year now that they both have a little experience, but i am not high on any of the guys behind them. I still think we are one injury away from a real problem on our o-line. And i would feel a lot more comfortable if they at least devoted one of our mid-round picks to it.