HOUSTON -- You knew something was up when Houston Texans running back Andre Brown got zero snaps in the team's first preseason game.
Both Brown ("I'm not even going to sit here and stress or anything") and coach Bill O'Brien ("that is a challenging position. It’s a competitive positon.") downplayed that. And Brown did get reps in practice on Monday. But this evening, the Texans made a couple moves to shake up their running back room.
The Texans released Brown, second-year running back Dennis Johnson and undrafted rookie Tim Cornett, sources said. Brown was a free-agent pickup this summer, after leaving the New York Giants.
That left Jonathan Grimes, Alfred Blue, Toben Opurum and Jay Prosch (technically a fullback) in that group after starter Arian Foster, who has missed most of training camp.
Grimes was the team's starter in its first preseason game with Blue spelling him and doing some impressive things. Blue, the Texans' sixth-round pick, is definitely a player to watch. I keep promising to write more about him, and I will tomorrow morning. He's been a really good learner and teammate and talked about the process of understanding the role of an NFL running back.
