Timmy Jernigan Signs One-Year, $3.75 Million Deal With Texans

The Houston Texans have lost a handful of key players in the offseason, but head coach and GM Bill O'Brien managed to add a former Pro Bowler on Wednesday.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans have signed veteran defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan to a one-year deal worth $3.75 million, with $1.25 million of it guaranteed.

Jernigan won a Super Bowl LII championship with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2017 season. Prior to a three-year stint in Philly, Jernigan spent his first three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.

Named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2014, the 6-foot-2 Jernigan has recorded 17.5 sacks and three passes defended in his career. He had two sacks in 10 games for the Eagles last season.

He's a nice replacement (and obviously a much cheaper one ) for D.J. Reader, a stud defensive tackle who left Houston for the Cincinnati Bengals on a giant four-year contract worth $53 million.

The 27-year-old Jernigan should fix a weak Houston front seven that recorded just 31 sacks in 2019 (tied for 26th in the NFL). He'll also help a defense that ranked 25th against the run, allowing a whopping 121.1 rushing yards per contest.

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Jernigan is the second notable free agent signing the Texans have made so far. In the early stages of free agency, they landed former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys standout receiver Randall Cobb on a three-year, $27 million contract.

The Texans made a head-scratching trade by sending superstar wideout DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth-rounder to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for injury-prone and expensive running back David Johnson and second and fourth-round picks.

But despite O'Brien's questionable moves as a GM up to this point, his Texans are coming off their second straight AFC South division-winning season. Losing Reader and Hopkins hurts, but adding Cobb and Jernigan ahead of the 2020 draft were big-time moves as the Texans try to stay ahead in the race for the division.

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