Texans Release Veteran Tackle Eric Winston

And the award for the "Pre-free agency Surprise Move" goes to..... The Houston Texans for cutting RT Eric Winston.  Seriously, Winston was the right tackle of an offensive line unit that was arguably the best in the league.  


The move saved the Texans $5.5 million but it is still very surprising.  As pointed out by ProFootballTalk, Eric Winston started all 16 games for the last five seasons.  Winston will be a hot commodity.
Teams such as the Raiders, Rams and Lions could look to get in on the prototype tackle early on.  He is a product of the zone blocking scheme that is prevalent in this era so work should not be hard to come by.


Houston has recently drafted tackles Derek Newton and Rashad Butler competing to fill the void.  They could also draft another player in the early rounds to make it a three-way (get your mind out of the gutter) competition.