The Houston Texans have announced more signings to the 2006
season team. A press conference was held by Head Coach Gary Kubiak on Sunday to
announce the new members of the Texans organization. These signings include FB
Jameel Cook formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DE Anthony Weaver formerly of
the Baltimore Ravens, and QB Sage Rosenfels formerly of the Miami Dolphins.
Cook was brought onto the team on Saturday, March 11 while both Weaver and Sage
were signed on Sunday, March 12. The Texans have additionally re-signed Fred Weary to the team.
Cook (5-10, 237) has 5 years of total NFL experience, all
with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last season he played in all 16 games for the
Bucs, catching 7 passes for 43 yards and scoring one touchdown. He attended
college at Illinois before being drafted by Tampa Bay in 2001.
Weaver (6-3, 280) has played in the NFL for 4 years with
the Baltimore Ravens. Before that, Weaver attended college at Notre Dame. He
was drafted in the second round by the Ravens, the 52nd overall pick in the 2002
draft. Weaver will be an explosive addition to the Texans defensive line. He
has the ability to get into the backfield of opposing teams and create chaos for
them. A hard-hitter with quick feet, Weaver will be a hard standing asset to
the defense. His pass rushing skills have steadily improved and he should be a
solid starter for the Texans.
Rosenfels (6-4, 225) has been in the NFL for 5 years, but
is lacking in actual playing time on the field. During his 5 seasons, Rosenfels
has played in 13 games with only 2 professional starts. Last season with the
Miami Dolphins he was given the opportunity to start one game, and see action in
three others. During these games he completed 34 of 61 passes (48.4%) for 462
yards. He threw four touchdowns last season, along with 3 interceptions. After
attending college at Iowa State, Rosenfels was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 2001, where he played for one season before being traded to the
Dolphins. He was selected in the fourth round where he was the 109th pick
overall.
Only one of these new acquisitions by the Texans is likely
to be a starter. Weary has the potential to start each game for the Texans next
year. Cook will most likely also see quite a bit of playing time since the
Texans released FB Jonathan Wells into Unrestricted Free Agency. At this time
it is possible that Cook could be a potential starter for the Texans as well.
Since the Texans have extended the contract of current QB David Carr, it is
unlikely that Sage will see any action outside of a backup capacity.
With the signing of another quarterback, those who have
hoped for the Texans to use their first draft pick of the upcoming draft to
obtain Vince Young may have some wind taken out of their sails. While it is
still unknown what the Texans will do with their pick, the team is making
several positive steps to build themselves into a competitive team again.