Injuries Have Unfortunately Held Houston Texans’ Mr. Irrelevant Lonnie Ballentine To That Name

Have you ever watched another team’s defense play and said to yourself, “man I wish our safeties would play like that?” I like Rahim Moore a lot, but the Houston Texans have an absolute baller on the shelf who for the moment can’t stay healthy early on in his young career.

Former “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2014 NFL Draft, free safety Lonnie Ballentine is a straight up menace on the field. Anyone who follows the Texans closely has only seen a microscopic portion of him performing his craft. He trots onto the field, no pretty sticky gloves, just his taped fingers like the late hard-hitting safety Sean Taylor. This guy checks all the boxes that scouts look for in a safety to man the back half of the defense. He’s giant for his position, standing at an imposing 6-foot-3, 230 pounds. He’s fast, I mean really fast, with 4.3 40-speed that shows instantly once he successfully reads and reacts to a play.

This kid jumps like there are invisible trampolines all over the field that only he knows about. He runs like his back is on fire to vividly describe his relentless pursuit to the action. In a very small sample against the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason, Ballentine was all over the place and wreaking havoc with normality. Once he recognizes where the flow is rolling, he nearly flies to that spot and blows the play up. It is truly refreshing to see a guy play with such confidence and purpose. Unfortunately, that is the only time he has been healthy — one half of football — which makes all that detailed description of him worth nothing.

If Ballentine could replace his bones with the metal that flows through (Marvel Comics) Wolverine’s body, the Texans would have their own version of NFC monster Kam Chancellor. That seems to be the theme of this team though; once the right guy is finally drafted, which hardly ever happens, he either gets hurt early or is never healthy. With one of the most dangerous receivers in football (Atlanta Falcons’ Julio Jones) days ahead in the schedule, the over the top coverage of Ballentine would be a great help to what might be a long day in the Georgia Dome.