[Bigtinylittle]

I could be wrong, and I'm not really trying to start an argument on this, but I'm going to give my thoughts about free safety in general and free safety as the Texans view it.

First, blitzing. Yes, some teams occasionally blitz a free safety, and if he doesn't get anywhere near the qb and the qb has time to throw, then the cornerbacks will have no help at all and a touchdown will very possibly be the result. But guess what? The average fan is not going to notice that the free safety failed, and they are probably more likely to blame the cb who they see chasing the receiver down the field.

Second, if the free safety was in a position where he was supposed to be, but the cornerback gets beaten badly on a play, the safety is often going to be the man who has to come over and limit the result. But guess what? The average fan sees the safety coming over late and it looks like he must be slow. Even if he isn't. If a free safety is in the middle of the field and a cb gets beaten badly, the difference in speed between a free safety with average speed and one with better than average speed is just a couple of steps.

Third, in out system, and until it changes, the coaches do NOT like to blitz. They want the pressure to come from the front four. There are very few times a game when this isn't the case.

Demeco Ryans is by general agreement an all-pro caliber MLB. But guess what? In our system he rarely blitzes even though by most expert opinion he is very good at it. The average fan may criticize our system and want it changed, but it is the system the coaches believe in, apparently even Kubiak or he would get a DC who used a different system. My point? Even if we had a free safety who was very good at blitzing, and I'm not saying Demps isn't good at it, we probably would rarely use the free safety blitz.

Fourth, the average fan overvalues the free safety position. It's the one he sees at the end of the play. He doesn't see the linebacker or lineman knocked on his ass at the line of scrimmage. He doesn't see all the other stuff that goes wrong on the play. He just sees the free safety.

Summing up, I don't think Kubiak is worried at all about the free safety position this year. Sure he would like to have an all-pro at every position. What coach wouldn't? But he expects to get pretty solid play at the position and I think he will. And like Kubiak, I'll be content with that too.

I just think that fans way overrate the free safety position. It just isn't one of the key positions on the team. If it was, free safety salaries would be through the roof like QB salaries and LT salaries, etc. When was the last time a free safety was the overall number one pick in the draft?