Houston Texans: Chris Clark trade a solid move

With star left tackle Duane Brown nursing a finger injury that has him in a cast for the time being, the Houston Texans needed to make a move to add an offensive tackle. Brown is one of the best in the business and is a fixture at left tackle, so the Texans can ill-afford to miss him for a significant amount of time. His injury isn’t expected to cost him much time, but even though he is expected to return for Week 1, as per the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, the move to acquire Chris Clark from the Denver Broncos puts an inkling of doubt in our minds.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Where Does Arian Foster Rank Among NFL’s Best RBs?

Clark is in the final year of a deal that will pay him $1.4 million before he hits free agency, but the steeper cost was the draft pick sent to the Broncos. The Denver Post’s Troy Renck reported that the Broncos received a seventh-round pick in 2016 from the Texans for Clark’s services, and the trade is a vote of confidence in rookie Ty Sambrailo and underrated second-year Michigan product Michael Schofield, who is now locked in as the swing tackle behind Sambrailo and Ryan Harris.

More from Houston Texans

I wouldn’t read too much in the Broncos lack of confidence in Clark, because he fits perfectly as a swing tackle in Houston for one season. Whether or not Brown’s injury is serious, the Texans needed offensive tackle depth as badly as any team around the league, since they lacked a proven backup OT before making the move to trade for Clark today.

It’s important to note that Clark looked much better as a left tackle in 2013 than he did as a right tackle in 2014, largely because he’s more of an athlete rather than a guy who can pave the road in the running game. Clark’s work in pass protection has been solid in each of the past two seasons, and he looked like a true revelation at the left tackle position in 2013 when given the opportunity to start there after Ryan Clady‘s season-ending injury.

Clark never got to take advantage of Clady’s latest season-ending injury, but an injury to someone in front of him in Houston would immediately make him a starter. Right tackle Derek Newton is entrenched on the right side after signing a big contract with the team this offseason, as the former punching-bag broke out in 2014 to be one of the NFL’s premier run blocking tackles.

In a way, Clark is the anti-Newton. Whereas Clark is a non-factor in the running game but an athletic pass blocker who can keep his quarterback pretty clean, Newton is a liability in pass pro who absolutely mashes fools in the running game. That makes Newton the better fit at right tackle, and it’s why Clark isn’t going to get a sniff at the starting gig unless if there’s some sort of a major to either Brown or Newton.

Trading a seventh-round pick for a swing tackle who has had past success in this league as a starting left tackle is a solid investment, and while this isn’t a home-run trade for the Houston Texans, anybody criticizing it would be nit-picking badly. While it is concerning that the Broncos would rather start a small-school rookie at left tackle than even keep Clark on the roster, the Texans are probably fine with a guy who has been 14th and 8th in Pro Football Focus’s Pass Blocking Efficiency in each of the past two seasons.

I wonder how many snaps Clark will get as a fill-in tackle for the Texans this season, but the organization can finally rest easy knowing that they’ve added a capable pass blocker and a legitimate swing tackle. To be fair, Clark’s “swing” is skewed to more comfort on the left side, but he can still provide value to this team.

This is one of those small trades that is understandable from both sides, but the trade puts nobody on the spot more than Clark. You could look at this deal as the Broncos slapping Clark in the face by choosing Schofield and, in a way, Sambrailo over him after he played so well back in 2013. He won’t get many snaps to show his stuff in Houston, so Chris Clark has to take advantage of every single one of them to display that he is more than just a swing tackle.

Working against him is the fact that he won’t get to benefit from the quick-release of Peyton Manning, and as we saw with monumental Tampa Bay Buccaneers free-agent bust left tackle Anthony Collins, leaving a quick-strike passing attack can make a tackle look worse. The Clark deal is a good move for the Texans no matter how you spell it due to their previous backup OT situation (and Brown’s injury thrown in), but Clark has something to prove. After all, he is in a contract year.

Next: Which Texans Are Among NFL's Most Important Players?

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/Houston Texans