Kamari Lassiter Role in 2024
I am intrigued...
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The next stage of the NFL offseason has arrived with NFL rookie mini-camps in full force over the past week through this coming weekend, including the Houston Texans. Today’s newsletter will focus on the Houston Texans and their second draft pick Kamari Lassiter.
One lingering thought or question I continue to read or hear is where Kamari Lassiter fits into the Houston defensive system for his rookie season. The answer is to be determined.
From Head Coach Demeco Ryans:
“With Kamari [Lassiter] – again, he’s a very sharp young man. He can play inside and he can play outside. He did that at Georgia, and whatever that day calls for, we’ll put him out at corner, we’ll put him out at nickel, and we’ll see what happens.”
Current Roster Construction
Houston General Manager Nick Caserio built the 2024 roster with veteran depth across multiple position groups. Depth levels led Caserio to comment that the incoming draft class may not even need to be starters (paraphrasing).
Cornerback Depth Chart
Houston will carry five or six cornerbacks into the regular season, including special teams aces, potentially leaving four or five of the names listed above off the roster. Injuries could also play into this situation.
What the team will get from Myles Bryant, Jeff Okudah, and C.J. Henderson are complete unknowns. Okudah and Henderson could be described as reclamation projects since both players are former first-round draft selections.
Myles Bryant experienced a very soft free agent market despite having a solid season as the primary slot cornerback in New England in 2023. Bryant coming into the league as an undrafted player contributed to that soft market.
Lassiter could easily be CB3 on the boundary or SBC2 on the inside depending on how things shake out with the veteran players. In a perfect world, I would love to see Lassiter as a primary backup for the 2024 season while he continues to develop into the primary CB2 across the field from Derek Stingley in 2025.
Measurements
Kamari Lassiter’s draft stock among the social media world in mid-March after reports from slow 40-yard dash time during the Georgia pro-day.
Per the highly respected Dane Bugler, Lassiter clocked in a disappointing 4.63 and 4.61 set of times in the 40-yard dash.
Forty-five minutes later, and a friend of the newsletter, Field Yates posted on X with conflicting information.
Beyond the straight-line speed or lack thereof (you can decide for yourself later in the video review section) Lassiter showcased outstanding work in the agility drills with a top-tier 3-cone time and a strong shuttle time.
With the numbers, the questions begin to roll in. Could Lassiter be a nickel cornerback in Houston? Is Lassiter too slow to play on the boundary?
I first researched Lassiter’s position snap counts at Georgia in 2023. In 14 games Lassiter had 415 defensive snaps in coverage as a cornerback. Of those 415 snaps just 34 were with Lassiter positioned as a slot cornerback.
The next thought in my process was to question if 40-yard and 3-cone times translate to NFL success. Please keep in mind this is a small data set utilizing just one data point as the definition of “NFL success”.
Lassiter posted a poor 40-yard dash time and top-tier 3-cone time at his pro-day.
I pulled from Sports Information Solutions (SIS) the Total Points Saved in Coverage for the 2021 through 2023 seasons for players lined up at cornerback (including interior and boundary).
Points Saved: The total of a player’s EPA responsibility while in coverage using the Total Points system that distributes credit among all players on the field for a given play (with positive numbers being good). Totals are scaled up to map to the average points scored or allowed on a team level, with the player's snap count determining how much to adjust. For pass defenders, this includes accounting for pass rush, broken tackles, dropped interceptions, turnovers, and turnover returns.
Using a 500 snap minimum over the three seasons, I compared players’ SIS Total Points Saved number against their 40-yard and 3-cone time, as provided by RAS and NFLVerse.
Neither scatter plot shows a correlation to Total Points Saved measurement success. Multiple factors could affect a player’s ability in pass coverage success including but not limited to which receiver the player is covering, defensive pass rush success, or scheme assignment/role.
To the Tape!
Unfortunately, the discussion on slot cornerback versus boundary cornerback is a very nuanced conversation. Today’s newsletter is geared more toward the high-level discussion versus diving into the weeds.
Mr. John Crumpler (now MD) was kind enough to deliver some Lassiter snaps from two games. This is just a small snippet of what Houston Texans fans should expect from Lassiter.
With this small review, I see a player, who’s speed should not be much of a concern who has a knack for the ball with a high football IQ. Lassiter could play interior and on the boundary depending on the match-up that week. A week-to-week decision could be forthcoming in 2024.
Admittedly when Houston drafted Lassister I felt Lassiter was to be a boundary defensive back with a destiny to shine later in 2025. After watching this bit of his tape, I am more open to the idea of Lassiter challenging at both the interior defensive back and boundary spots.
For your review:
Let me know your thoughts down in the comments on how you see Kamari Lassiter fitting into the 2024 Houston Texans’ defense.
Cornerback and Left Guard are easily the top two position battles, for me, heading into training camp.
Until next time.
-TC
Did Stingley never clock a 40 time to be included with his NFL peers? Would be most interested to see how/where he stacks up.