Over at Football Outsiders, Vince Verhei goes over the biggest off-season needs for each AFC South team. For the defending champion Texans, he points to the opening at right tackle created by the departure of Eric Winston:
In a move that raised eyebrows around the league, the Texans released the highly-regarded Eric Winston prior to free agency. Winston signed with the Chiefs, becoming one of the very few players to be released, then receive a "bigger" contract than he had owed to him. With cap money hard to come by, the Texans couldn't really find many proper solutions in free agency, so Houston instead had to look to the draft. They addressed wide receiver and outside linebacker in the early rounds, and brought in some fascinating interior linemen in the middle rounds, but they don't have an obvious challenger to Rashad Butler at right tackle at this point.
Butler, a third round pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2006, replaced Winston on the University of Miami offensive line earlier in the decade.
He's been part of the Texans organization since 2007, but has started only 4 games so far in his NFL career. With Matt Schaub not exactly the most mobile QB in the NFL, Butler will have to be ready to play this fall, despite his lack of playing experience.
For more coverage of the Texans off-season, head over to Battle Red Blog.