The Texans made roster moves at running back on Tuesday, adding veteran Ronnie Brown and Texas-native William Powell. The team also released running backs Dennis Johnson, Andre Brown, and Tim Cornett.
Both Brown and Powell were in full pads and participated in Tuesday's training camp practice. Brown, who arrived Monday morning for tryouts, is still learning what his role may be with the Texans.
Obviously, Arian (Foster) is the guy," Brown said. "This is his team. They lean a lot on him and the things that he do and the things that he's capable of as a running back. But besides that, I'm just coming in trying to be another guy that can help be a piece of the puzzle. Whatever I can do to help this team win, that is my goal."
Brown, drafted by Miami with the No. 2 overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft, spent six seasons with the Dolphins and brief stints with the Eagles and Chargers. Brown has rushed for a career 5,328 yards and 38 touchdowns and accumulated 1,922 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 122 games.
"He's a guy that I think is a good pass protector," O'Brien said. "I think when you watch him in the one-on-one drill today, I thought he did a good job already in pass protection. The deal with him now is learning our pass protections, which in some ways, there's some carryover to what he did in Miami for a couple years there when there was a similar protection scheme at Miami. Hopefully he can associate some of our protections with what he's done in the past. He's a good pass-protecting back."
Powell (5-9, 207) signed with Arizona as an undrafted free agent and played 13 games in 2012. The Duncanville, Texas native attended Kansas State and was one of 55 nationwide candidates for a 2011 Rudy Award, given to honor those who demonstrate exemplary character, courage, contribution, and commitment as members of their collegiate football teams.
"Basically, again, it goes back to any time we have a chance to improve the football team, that's what we're going to do," O'Brien said. "Those guys that we released yesterday worked very hard for us. It wasn't a matter of anyone of them doing anything particularly wrong. It was more of a matter of we've got a chance to bring in some guys as we look towards the final roster here in three weeks, we've got a chance to have some guys here to see if we can improve the football team. So that's what we did with those guys."
