Rahim Moore Provides Youthful Upgrade to Texans' Already-Strong Secondary

The story of the Houston Texans signing safety Rahim Moore away from the Denver Broncos is one of redemption on both sides. The deal was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter Thursday afternoon, after Moore had visited the Texans earlier in the week:

The Texans have been trying to escape the shadow of a bad safety decision for two offseasons. In 2013, the Texans let safety Glover Quin walk in free agency for a pittance and replaced him in a win-now move with future Hall of Famer Ed Reed. Reed was washed up, second-round pick D.J. Swearinger wasn't ready (and still isn't playing well) and the Texans flopped to 2-14. 

They tried to remedy the situation last offseason by signing safety Chris Clemons, a Pro Football Focus favorite, to a two-year deal. Clemons barely played in the preseason before getting released and didn't play an NFL game all season.

It was as if there were never a Clemons. (Well, besides the defensive end.) Kendrick Lewis played deep safety for the Texans off the scrapheap, and he and Swearinger combined for quite a few coverage flubs.

On paper, Moore is an upgrade over Lewis. In signing him, the Texans are doing exactly what the Lions did then with Quin: stealing a young, valuable player on the cheap. Is the third time ever actually a charm? I can forgive cynical Texans fans if they hold their breath. I still think this is a nice risk, particularly at the price—a reported three-year, $12 million deal:

Moore, of course, has his own redemption story to write. If you are a casual fan, you probably remember him best as the guy responsible for the long Jacoby Jones touchdown that brought Baltimore to overtime against Denver in the 2012 AFC divisional-round game. I think it's become something of a cliche to point out that play, but I also can't deny that it overshadows his entire public perception at this point. 

Moore also missed time in 2013 with a horrifying disorder known as compartment syndrome, which you can read all about at MMQB. Long story short: He almost lost his leg because of it. 

And even though Moore played some solid football for the Broncos, they let him walk without any real attempt to keep his services. Perhaps some of that is because they already employ a number of Pro Bowl-caliber players in their secondary: Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and Chris Harris. But another way to look at it is that they thought he was a replaceable talent. 

Year	Snaps	Overall Grade	Pass Coverage Grade
2011	526	-6.3	-2.7
2012	1,082	+8.9	+6.0
2013	672	+0.2	+3.3
2014	1,074	+0.3	+2.5
Total	3,354	+3.1	+9.1

In Houston, need met need. The Texans need to replace Quin's impact in the secondary, and Moore needs to prove that he can live up to his draft stock with a fresh start. It's a nice match. 

The Texans are still lighter at outside linebacker than I'd like to see them have in case Jadeveon Clowney's return from microfracture surgery isn't smooth. But other than that, they've rectified most of their defensive needs this offseason strongly. 

This isn't, to me, a home run signing. The fact that Moore couldn't really thrive next to his more vaunted teammates gives me a little pause.

But given the needs of the team, I think it's a solid move that adds a lot of credibility to the pass defense. Any time you know 25 throws a season are going to be altered by star lineman J.J. Watt, having a rangy safety who can jump a poor ball is important. 

For Moore and the Texans, the hope should be that they can rectify past transgressions together.

All DYAR and DVOA numbers cited are courtesy of Football Outsiders. Learn more about DVOA here.

 

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.