Reshard

Cliett

Last year’s sixth-round pick, Cliett missed his entire rookie season with a torn ACL.

A sixth-round pick, Cliett offers some appeal as a sub-package pass rusher but is undersized for a traditional linebacker. His best chance of making the team is to excel on special teams.

It was announced Cliett would miss the entire season with a knee injury last week, but we didn’t find out the exact nature of the injury until watching the premiere of HBO’s Hard Knocks on Tuesday night.

Cliett was fighting for a role as a sub-package pass rusher. He should be waived/injured with the intention of reverting to injured reserve.

Cliett (6'2/222) started 27 games in his career, leading South Florida in sacks with six last season and ranking second on the team with 7.5 TFLs. He ran a 4.51 with a 38 1/2" vertical at his pro day. Cliett will have to make a splash on special teams to make the Texans.

The Texans used sub-packages more than 50 percent of the time last season, forcing safeties Eddie Pleasant and D.J. Swearinger to play out of position at linebacker. They’re now searching for “sub-rushers” to affect the passer in nickel and dime alignments. They hope Cliett offers a rare combination of speed and coverage expertise while still being a strong run defender.