They say that one person's trash is another person's treasure and the Houston Texans have to hope that is the fact as Dallas Cowboys' castoff Bradie James signs on to join the Texans for the 2012 NFL season. James is a known commodity for the Texans since defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was the head coach in Dallas when James was playing his best.
Now, James hopes to prove to the NFL, and his new teammates, that 2011 was just an aberration. Before 2011, James was one of the more dominant players on the Cowboys' defense, racking up 744 tackles over his career to go along with 15.5 sacks and two interceptions.
He originally came to Dallas in the 2003 NFL Draft, a fourth round selection from LSU. During his first two years, he was a backup to Dexter Coakley in the 4-3 defense, but when Dallas switched to the 3-4 in 2005, he became one of the starting middle linebackers and finished the season with 93 tackles.
The next year he broke the 100 tackle mark and that was the start of five consecutive seasons with over 100 tackles for James. His best year in that stretch was 2008, where he finished with 116 tackles and eighth sacks. Even as recently as 2010, James finished the season with 118 tackles.
However, James fell off in 2011, finishing the year with only 44 tackles, a monstrous drop-off in production. He only started in 13 of the 16 games he played, the first time since 2004 that he did not start every game of the season. The fact he was in a contract year did not help and the Cowboys cut their ties with him following the season.
Now, he hopes that reuniting with Wade Phillips will reignite his career once more. James will work as a compliment to Brian Cushing in the Texans' defense as they work to make up for the loss of pass rushing end Mario Williams.
Looking back on his career as a whole, Houston might have found a winner here. If he proves that 2011 was just a fluke, Houston might have found a clog for their middle backers that will help them improve from even their nice 2011 numbers.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a fan of Houston football since Earl Campbell, Kenny "The Snake" Stabler and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson played for the Houston Oilers. When the Oilers left for Tennessee, Shawn lost interest but quickly became a Houston Texans fan when the NFL brought football back to South Texas.
Source: houstontexans.com
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