Now that we’re full-on into the playoffs, it’s time to stop looking in the rearview with our Secret Superstars series, and start looking forward to the next game with Postseason X-Factors. The principle is the same — using game tape and metrics to uncover those hidden gems for every team who are primed to bring their best when their franchises need it the most.
The Houston Texans present all kinds of hidden gems on the defensive side of the ball, but it’s hard to be more impressed with too many second-year
defensive players on any NFL team than safety Calen Bullock. The USC alum began his professional career as a remarkable deep safety. Now, he’s adding new colors to his coverage palette, and it’s showing up all over the field.
If Aaron Rodgers returns to the NFL for the 2026 season (no doubt after months and months of self-generated debate on the subject), it could well be because his last throw in a game was so disastrous. With 2:52 left in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 30-6 wild-card thrashing at the hands of the Houston Texans on Monday night, Rodgers tried to hit receiver Calvin Austin III on a three-man frontside vertical concept. What he may not have expected was to see safety Calen Bullock in the slot, backpedaling right to where Rodgers wanted the ball to go. Not that the Texans needed Bullock’s 50-yard pick-six, but it was a nice capper as the Texans move on to meet the New England Patriots in the divisional round.
But the most interesting and encouraging thing about this play was Bullock’s presence as a slot defender. Throughout his NFL career, Bullock has been primarily a deep safety, because he became one of the NFL’s best in very short order. In his rookie year of 2024, he lined up in the deep third on an NFL-high 1,063 of his 1,113 snaps, and overall, he allowed 13 catches on 29 targets for 159 yards, two touchdowns, five interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 45.7.
And if you want consistency from year to year, well, you can’t do much better than this: In his second season, Bullock has lined up in the deep third on 938 of his 1,070 snaps, allowing 17 catches on 36 targets for 247 yards, two touchdowns, five interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 49.0,
I wrote an entire article for Battle Red Blog in late November on why Bullock is so great in the deep third, so feel free to catch up there for the chapter and verse. What interests me now is Bullock’s growth as a defender this season in other areas.
I’m not a huge fan of Bullock as a box defender for several reasons: It takes away his range, his run-tackling is a mixed bag, and the Texans already have Jalen Pitre as the ideal man in that role. But as a shallow coverage safety and slot defender, that’s where he’s showing additional potential. Not that there are a ton of reps to go by there, but that’s the point — when you see Bullock erase receivers over and over from the slot on just 60 snaps, it makes you wonder what he might be able to do if he’s asked to do that more often.
It wasn’t just the pick-six.
Moving Bullock around against the Patriots may or may not happen, of course. Because when it comes to the deep third, they’ll want him on that wall. This season, Drake Maye has completed 36 of 65 passes of 20 or more air yards for 1,120 yards, 10 touchdowns, one interception, and an NFL-best passer rating of 133.5. But for a defense that manages to be truly great without a lot of eye candy — the Texans have blitzed on just 18.9% Of their snaps, and they disguise coverage just 21.4% of the time — moving Bullock around from time to time may fool Maye as it did Aaron Rodgers… at the perfect time.
