Ray Rhodes to Provide Some Defensive Help for the Texans

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Texans are "close to hiring longtime NFL defensive specialist Ray Rhodes as an assistant coach." The report suggests that he will be hired to fill the position vacated by Martin Bayless whose contract as assistant defensive backs coach was not renewed.

When offensive line guru Alex Gibbs was hired as Texans assistant head coach, I thought that was a perfect fit for the team. But I wondered if they were going to give the inexperienced defensive staff some help. Well, it appears as though they are guruing the way on up the Texans defensive side of the ball, which has been a statistical albatross and often unpleasant to watch.

For more information about Rhodes, I suggest checking out his wiki, his bio on the Seattle website, and this information about the medical condition that ended up limiting his coaching hours with the Seahawks.

If this goes through as expected, this will be a good hire for the Texans. It gives additional confidence to the defense that the Texans are getting more coaching experience and spending whatever they can to win. In addition, it is a hire on the defense that can be done without undercutting the current coaching staff, as Rhodes' medical concerns probably means he doesn't have designs on a larger role as coordinator.

I'll update this as more information comes available. What do you think about this hire?