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Adibi on track to become Texans starting weakside linebacker
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No, that's not Kailee Wong
When the Texans drafted Xavier Adibi with the 118th selection of the 2008 draft, the first thought to cross my mind was 'there's the guy who will replace Morlon Greenwood.'
Texans fans were pretty excited about the prospect of adding a young, quick play-making outside linebacker to the squad. "Youtube' Adibi and you can find some pretty impressive stuff from his days at Va Tech.
But then as the season unfolded, Adibi was mysteriously absent from the Texans mainstream due to an "unspecified illness" that kept him inactive for most of the first half of the season.
Adibi was almost a forgotten man until a couple of weeks ago when Morlon Greenwood sprained his ankle against Baltimore.
Since then, Adibi has come off inactive status and has been making the most of his opportunities. Adibi has only two starts this season but has already logged 19 solo tackles, 14 of which came in one game against the Colts two weeks ago.
Adibi has quicks and speed that shows up on highlight film. Yeah, at 6-2, 230 he's a bit small by NFL linebacker standards but I'd rather have a guy like that who shows up on replay vs. a guy who doesn't.
He makes plays and is all over the place. How do you not like a player like that?
He’s just been amazing... - Gary Kubiak on Xavier Adibi
Speaking of his size, this is one player where the number doesn't fit the player. After so many years of watching Kailee Wong stuff the middle in #52, this one isn't working for me. He needs to be wearing a 'faster' number like that collegiate #11 that he wore at Blacksburg. Too bad the NFL doesn't allow exceptions for linebacker numbers like they do wide receivers.
The Texans lack depth and talent at linebacker and have only six linebackers under contract for next season: Zac Diles, Kevin Bentley, Chaun Thompson, DeMeco Ryans, Morlon Greenwood, and Adibi.
Greenwood and his $6.3 million cap figure is the obvious odd-man out, and unless he is willing to renegotiate his contract he will be released in late February.
Expect Kevis Coley to be re-signed and at least one LB to be selected in the draft next April. Hopefully, Diles fully recovers from his broken leg.
In his after-practice comments yesterday, Gary Kubiak acknowledged Adibi's recent performance as "amazing." I'm not sure if I'd go that far but I will say it's a good sign for the future.
Unless your name is Greenwood.
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