Houston Texans Mario Williams is Moving to Linebacker
By Joe Owens
Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is switching the Texans D to a 3-4 defense. Phillips told the Houston Chronicle that he will be moving defensive end Mario Williams to outside linebacker in his scheme.
Mario Williams is listed at 6’6″, 295lbs. Williams will become the largest linebacker in NFL history when this happens. Phillips wants to use Williams like he deployed Demarcus Ware in Dallas and we are all aware of that end result. Through Mario Williams first five seasons, Williams has accumulated 48 sacks. That is up there with some of the best players through their first five years recently. Mario Williams is on a short list of names for most sacks in the NFL since 2000:
- DeMarcus Ware- 64.5
- Jared Allen- 57.5
- Dwight Freeney- 56.5
- Julius peppers- 53.5
- Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila- 50.5
- Mario Williams- 48.0
Since 2000 no player has more sacks in his first five years than Mario Williams except DeMarcus Ware, and Ware became one of the most dominate pass rushers in the game in Wade Phillips read and react defense while in Dallas.
While Super Mario led the Texans in 2010 with 8.5 sacks some are skeptical that Williams can make the transition. At the weakside outised linebacker postion Williams will be forced to learn coverages which is something he has never been required to do. Also with J.J. Watt being drafted as defensive end by the Texans now Houston will have both WIlliams and Watt on the same side, and neither has experience in the NFL at either postion.
Look for the weakside of the defense to be a major question going into camp and into the preseason. If the experiment doens’t work out then its quite possible that Super Mario slides back inside to DE and Connor Barwin and newly drafted linebacker Brooks Reed take over at the outside linebacking spots.