The Houston Texans are one of the best teams in the NFL, and their defense could be the most aggressive in the league.
Why are they so good? Well, their cornerbacks are terrific, and they've drafted at a high level across all defensive position groups. Their defensive end duo of Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. is another main reason for their success.
Pro Football Focus agrees with that assessment as they ranked both Hunter and Anderson Jr. among their top-32 defensive edge rushers. Ryan Smith broke down the 32 best with the Browns' Myles Garrett sitting atop the list with Micah Parson second and T.J. Watt third.
Anderson Jr. is the first Texans star on the list, coming in at No. 9. Here's what Smith had to say about the young defensive end.
"Anderson, the 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year, elevated his game in Year 2, earning an 88.8 PFF overall grade — ninth among 119 qualifying edge defenders. He hit his stride late in the season, with four of his five highest-graded performances coming in Week 12 or later, including both playoff games," he wrote.
Just a few spots lower at No. 12 was Hunter, who signed a one-year extension earlier this offseason which has him locked up in Houston until the end of the 2026 season.
"After eight productive seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Hunter signed with the Houston Texans as a free agent in March 2024. In his first year with the team, he ranked among the top 20 edge defenders in both pass-rush grade (81.1) and run-defense grade (73.2)," Smith noted.
Between Anderson Jr. and Hunter was Khalil Mack at No. 10 and Josh Allen at No. 11. That said, with Hunter now 30, still being a top-15 rusher is an impressive feat, and Anderson Jr. may only see his name continue to rise on the list over the next few seasons.
The Texans are set up well for success, and with C.J. Stroud hoping to bounce back from a disappointing sophomore campaign, the sky might be the ceiling for this Houston team.
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After a 13-year career with the New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, tight end Jimmy Graham is officially hanging up his cleats. Graham didn’t have a team for the second time in three seasons in 2024, and according to a beat writer for the team, he will retire as a Saint. Graham was drafted by the Saints out of Miami (FL.) in the 2010 NFL draft and by 2011 was a Pro Bowler and one of Drew Brees’ favorite targets. His best year came in 2013, when he caught 86 passes for 1,215 yards and an NFL-high 16 touchdowns en route to his only first-team All-Pro recognition. Which brings us to today’s quiz. Graham finished with 89 touchdowns in his NFL career, the 16th-most in the NFL’s Super Bowl era. With that being said, can you name every player to haul in at least 80 touchdown passes in their career? Good luck! Did you like this quiz? Are there any quizzes you’d like to see us make in the future? Let us know your thoughts at quizzes@yardbarker.com, and make sure to subscribe to our Quiz of the Day Newsletter for daily quizzes sent right to your email!
Throughout the season, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred visits all 30 team clubhouses in an attempt to strengthen his relationship with the players. But when Manfred visited the Philadelphia Phillies last week, he did anything but strengthen his relations, at least not with Phillies star Bryce Harper. As reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan, Harper wasn't a fan of a conversation that seemed to be heading toward the possibility of implementing a salary cap in the game. Harper stood nose to nose with Manfred, telling him, "If you want to speak about that, you can get the [expletive] out of our clubhouse." Passan's report says that Manfred reportedly responded that he was "not going to get the [expletive] out of here." Manfred's main source of argument comes from his view that it's an important issue to discuss and has a direct impact on the game of baseball. Nick Castellanos, who's been known to have a fiery side of personality himself, helped to mediate the situation by saying, "I have more questions" to Manfred. Because the meeting continued, things settled down, and eventually, Manfred and Harper shook hands. Though Harper did not answer phone calls from Manfred the next day. "It was pretty intense, definitely passionate. Both of 'em. The commissioner giving it back to Bryce and Bryce giving it back to the commissioner. That's Harp. He's been doing this since he was 15-years-old," Castellanos told ESPN. Both Harper and Manfred declined to comment to ESPN on the matter. Manfred is certainly in a difficult spot with players themselves against a salary cap, as well as the MLB Players Association, which is adamantly against it. But some team owners are for it, most notably Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein, who purchased the club in August 2024. It's certainly worth noting that the 1994 players' strike was a result of the league's effort to move to a salary-cap system. That is the worst-case scenario for MLB. And it seems to stress out Manfred. "Rob seems to be in a pretty desperate place on how important it is to get this salary cap," Castellanos added in his comments to ESPN, "because he's floating the word lockout two years in advance of our collective bargaining agreement [expiration]. That's nothing to throw around. That's the same thing as me in a marriage saying, 'I think divorce is a possibility. It's probably going to happen.' You don't just say those things." It's also important to note that Harper is a client of baseball super agent Scott Boras, and Castellanos is a former Boras client who now represents himself. Boras is known for bargaining for a ton of money for his clients, so that may provide one explanation of many for why Harper would be so against the discussion. It seems the only thing all parties can agree on is that no one wants a work stoppage in Major League Baseball. But that might just be where the agreements end.
Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave through Aug. 31 as part of Major League Baseball’s ongoing investigation into sports betting, per a league announcement. Clase’s teammate, Luis Ortiz, was the first (and thus far only other) player placed on leave under the ongoing investigation. Clase will continue to be paid while the league looks into any alleged wrongdoing. He will not count against the team’s 40-man roster while on leave. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Clase was being placed on leave shortly prior to MLB’s formal announcement. “The Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that as part of their sports betting investigation Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave per an agreement with the Players Association,” the team said Monday in a statement, per Mike Axisa of CBS Sports. “We have been informed that no additional players or Club personnel are expected to be impacted. The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time, and will respect the league’s confidential investigative process as we continue to fully cooperate.” Clase’s name had surfaced as a potential trade candidate this summer, as several contenders around the league have been weighing a run at impact relievers with multiple years of club control remaining. A trade wasn’t seen as likely, given Clase’s below-market contract and general track record of excellence. The 27-year-old has pitched 47 1/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball this year — a “down” season relative to his lofty standards. The right-hander boasts a superlative 1.84 ERA in 336 2/3 innings over the past five seasons. He’s saved 181 games, fanned just under one-quarter of his opponents, issued walks at a tiny 4.8 percent clip and piled up grounders at an elite 58.5 percent rate. Clase signed a five-year, $20M extension in April 2022. He’s being paid just $4.5M this year and has a $6M guarantee for the 2026 season. His extension included a pair of $10M club options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, though he’s already maxed out a series of escalators that have pushed the value of each of those options up to $13M apiece. The news comes as a notable blow to the Guardians’ already-thin postseason hopes. Cleveland is eight games back of the division-leading Tigers and 3.5 games out of an AL wild-card spot (with three teams to leapfrog). They were already without Ortiz, their fourth starter, due to this ongoing investigation and had lost another rotation member, Ben Lively, to Tommy John surgery. Former AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber was targeting a June return but has yet to pitch in the majors after a setback in recovery from his own Tommy John procedure — though he’s on a rehab assignment and on the cusp of a return to the majors. Clase’s bullpen-mate, Cade Smith, figures to take over closing duties for the time being. He’s arguably an even better reliever at this point than Clase is, and Smith himself has received plenty of attention on the summer trade market. As with Clase, a deal has been seen as unlikely, given the 26-year-old righty’s four-plus seasons of remaining club control. Depending on how one chooses to view the Clase suspension, it could make a Smith trade more or less likely. Smith now becomes even more of a focal point in the bullpen and all the more critical to whatever playoff hopes Cleveland has left. At the same time, losing Clase further dampens those postseason odds and could make the Guards more willing to turn the page on the 2025 season and focus on the future. Smith should be an integral part of that future, but he could also net a legitimate prospect haul if moved in the next three days, potentially adding multiple long-term contributors to the Guards in 2026 and beyond.
The Dallas Cowboys extended one of their stars Sunday, just not the one fans wanted them to pay. At Cowboys training camp Saturday, Dallas fans serenaded owner Jerry Jones with "Pay Micah [Parsons]" chants. The EDGE, of course, is set to play on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract this season. Jones must not have been listening. He gave tight end Jake Ferguson a new contract instead. Dallas and the 26-year-old pass-catcher agreed to a four-year, $52M contract extension, via NFL Media's Ian Rapoport. This move seems head-scratching. Parsons has won the 2021 Defensive Rookie of the Year and earned two first-team All-Pro nods since the Cowboys took him with pick No. 12 in the 2021 NFL Draft. The 26-year-old EDGE also finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Ferguson, meanwhile, is solid but not elite. In three seasons with the Cowboys, the 2022 fourth-round pick has made one Pro Bowl and has never finished with more than 761 receiving yards in a season. An extension for Parsons will devour future cap space. The Cowboys may be worried about that after giving quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240M) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136M) long-term deals in 2024. Pittsburgh Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt signed a lucrative three-year, $123M extension on July 17, making him the league's highest-paid non-QB. Parsons could command a similar contract. If cap space is Dallas' primary concern, however, why would it extend Ferguson? He's now set to be the NFL's seventh-highest-paid TE. The Cowboys waited to extend Lamb and Prescott just before the start of the 2024 season. They may be doing the same with Parsons. The star defender has said, "Ownership is always gonna make [contract negotiations] drag out." Regardless, the Cowboys should've paid Parsons before Ferguson. That's a much bigger priority for the team.
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