First broken by John McClain's Twitter and later pushed on to the Chronicle's website, the Texans have plunked down $1.894 million over four years (according to ChronicleTexans' Twitter) for Colorado State guard Shelley Smith to join the glut of interior linemen on the active roster.

Smith broke in as a guard his sophomore year at Colorado State, earning second team all-MWC accolades by his junior year. He was hurt for three games in his senior year and still managed to win a slot on the honorable mention MWC team. He's considered a zone-blocking scheme specialist and turned heads at the NFL Scouting Combine by running a 5.03 40-yard-dash time and lifting 26 reps of 225 pounds, both among the tops for interior offensive linemen.

Smith probably won't get a fair sniff at a job this year with so many players (Chris Myers, Antoine Caldwell, Wade Smith, Kasey Studdard, Mike Brisiel) ahead of him in the pecking order, but as a developmental guy, he may catch on next year depending on what the coaches see out of him and how the guards ahead of him perform.