Former Arizona Cardinals EDGE rusher gets opportunity with the Texans
By Sion Fawkes
The Arizona Cardinals predictably found no trading partner for Myjai Sanders, so they cut ties with the former third-round pick, and it took little time for Sanders to land in a new city. News broke yesterday that Sanders landed with the Houston Texans, and he should have a huge opportunity to help out what has been a stagnant pass rush.
Last season, the former University of Cincinnati product showed more than a few flashes of playmaking ability, and it’s something he could bring to a team whose sack leader, Jonathan Greenard, has just 3.5 on the year. No one else on the Texans has more than one sack and as a unit, they have struggled in getting to the quarterback.
Will former Arizona Cardinals linebacker Myjai Sanders provide a spark in Houston?
The Texans, however, rank in the middle of the league in terms of pressure percentage, at 20.9 percent. Sanders has shown he can help in this regard judging from his performance when given the chance last season in the desert.
He blitzed opposing quarterbacks 19 times, per Pro-Football-Reference, logging 3.0 sacks, four hurries, two quarterback knockdowns, and nine total pressures. He only played in 259 snaps last year, so his sample size, while small, is also intriguing.
He’s also a young player, essentially a rookie in many ways, so he has the opportunity to grow in Houston the way he never got a chance to in Arizona. But at the same time, with the Cardinals EDGE rushers performing well even if the rest of the defense hasn't, it made sense to cut ties with Sanders and let him continue his career elsewhere.
In short, this could work for both parties in the near future, with the Arizona Cardinals avoiding a logjam at the position (and on the active roster), and the Texans gaining a much-needed EDGE rusher.
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Source: Houston Texans' DeMeco Ryans Has A Concern, Can Myjai Sanders Help? by Coty M Davis, SI.com
(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)