Far be it for me to be the cynical type, but I had to snort when I read the title of this article in today's Chronicle. Really? You mean a complete lack of safety help wasn't to your liking last season? I'll be dipped!
The interesting thing, however, isn't that the team realizes that a strong safety who doesn't excel in coverage but plays free safety is a pronounced liability. No, to me it's that Von Hutchins and Dexter McCleon are getting significant reps and appear to be prime candidates to unseat (or at least reduce the playing time of) C.C. Brown. After watching five (5) years of struggles (read: unadulterated toasting) at the free safety position, many Texans fans had their fingers crossed that the team would add a starting-caliber free safety via the draft. While that didn't materialize, I appreciate that Kubes is trying different guys out back there in an effort to raise the positional productivity. If nothing else, the added flexibility that Hutchins and McCleon would seemingly provide can only strengthen the secondary. Not to the point that we'll be trumpeting "Hutchins For Pro Bowl!"*, mind you, but strengthening nonetheless.
* At least not until Week Two, anyway.