Houston Texans Seeking A New Center?

The Houston Texans are busy preparing for 2015.  On Monday, news broke that Andre Johnson would no longer be with the team as he was given permission to seek a trade.  Yesterday his agent asked the team to release him.

Today we learned that Brian Hartline met with the Texans and completed a physical.  That seems to be a strong indication that he may sign.  He's not necessarily a replacement for Andre, but he would certainly improve an anemic roster at the receiver position.

Yesterday, news broke that Chris Myers was released from the team.  The quick assumption is that Ben Jones would slide into the role going forward.  But not so fast!  Myers and Jones both struggled at times during the 2014 campaign, so perhaps the Texans are seeking a veteran player from another team to anchor the middle of the offensive line.

CBS Houston SportsRadio610 is reporting:

SportsRadio 610 has learned that the Texans are close to replacing both of those positions per a source close to the situation.

No word on who the offensive lineman that might be close to signing with the Texans but there are options out there. The Texans could replace Myers with a center, or if they move Ben Jones from guard to center they can sign a veteran guard to compete with Xavier Su’A-Filo.

Here are some options of available players before free agency hits on Monday that the Texans could sign.

Former Dolphin Nate Garner was released by Miami on March 2nd. He played six years with the Dolphins and had just 19 starts. Todd Herremans was released by the Eagles on February 27th after 10 years and 124 starts but he probably wont be of interest because of recent injuries and better options for the Texans. Charlie Johnson from Minnesota was released in February as well and has 115 starts at guard in 9 season for the Vikings.

Other names that might work for the Texans are Jeromey Clary (G) and Mike Pollak (G). On Monday the free agent market opens in the NFL and then any free agent is also on tap to be signed for one of these positions. One of the Free Agents that might interest the Texans on the o-line is center Stefen Wisniewski who is an unrestricted free agent after four years with the Oakland Raiders.

Now this could indicate that the Texans are looking at any position along the offensive line, but it would be very interesting if they have a center lined up to sign shortly after releasing Myers.

Source tells @NFLonFOX that @RAIDERS have interest in ex- @HoustonTexans C Chris Myers. Stefen Wisniewski could be leaving as UFA

— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) March 5, 2015

NFL.com lists the following players (centers) as free agents:

Rodney Hudson is looking for record money, so he's probably not a candidate.  Stefen Wisniewski is quite intriguing as a young center who had an excellent four years with the Raiders:

Stefen Wisniewski

Height: 6-3   Weight: 315   Age: 25

Born: 3/22/1989 in Pittsburgh, PA

College: Penn State

Experience: 5th season

This would be a good pickup for the Texans.  There are not many "center" candidates in the upcoming NFL Draft, and that's a difficult way to obtain specific talent anyway, given how fluid each round can be with 32 teams all trying to reload their rosters.

What are your thoughts?  Are the Texans about to sign Myers' replacement?