Depressed safety market put focus on Texans' current starters

Jalen Pitre #5, Jimmie Ward #1, and Desmond King II #25 of the Houston Texans celebrate after Ward made an interception in the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos at NRG Stadium on December 03, 2023 in Houston, Texas.Going into this NFL offseason, the Houston Texans' needs and positions of strength seemed pretty clear.

On the list of positions of strength would have been safety, even if the performance there in 2023 was less than stellar. They have veteran starters Jimmie Ward and Jalen Pitre under contract. All they really needed was depth.

Then earlier this week, a wave of accomplished safeties were released by their teams, mostly as salary cap casualties. Suddenly, the free agent…