The Houston Texans have been awfully busy this offseason, making moves such as signing standout edge rusher Danielle Hunter and trading for star wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Apparently, the Texans almost made another significant move.
On a recent episode of his Third and Long podcast, new Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead says that Houston made a push to land him before he joined the Jaguars.
“The Texans tried to trade for me, didn’t even want me to become a free agent,” Armstead said. “I thought I was going there. Trade fell through. Boom, I end up hitting free agency.”
Armstead was released by the San Francisco 49ers earlier this offseason after he declined to take a pay cut. Evidently, the 49ers tried to trade him first, but were unsuccessful.
The 30-year-old is coming off of a 2023 campaign in which he played 12 games and registered 27 tackles and five sacks.
Armstead, who played his collegiate football at the University of Oregon, was selected by San Francisco with the 17th overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
The Sacramento native was kind of a late bloomer, mainly due to injuries. After playing in all 16 contests during his rookie year, Armstead appeared in a grand total of 14 games over the next two seasons. He finally began to establish himself as a force in 2018, when he recorded 48 tackles and three sacks.
Then, in 2019, Armstead broke out, racking up 54 tackles, 10 sacks, a couple of forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Since then, Armstead had been a strong contributor along the Niners’ defensive line when healthy, but over the last two years, he has participated in just 21 games combined.
The fact that the Texans were pursuing Armstead demonstrates that they really think they can make a run at a Super Bowl next season. Houston is going for it.
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