Packers: Christian Kirksey signing one-year deal with Texans

It didn’t take long for Christian Kirksey to find his new team.

Kirksey was signed by the Green Bay Packers last offseason with the team hoping they’d finally found their long-term starter at inside linebacker.

But after Kirksey had a disappointing first season, along with a reduced salary cap meaning the Packers need to create cap space, Green Bay moved on from Kirksey along with right tackle Rick Wagner earlier this offseason.

Free agency is still over a week away, but Kirksey has already found his new team. As he was released by the Packers, he didn’t need to wait until the new league year to sign a contract. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Kirksey is signing a one-year deal with the Houston Texans.

This past season, Kirksey made 77 tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, and two quarterback hits. He played in 11 games, missing five due to injury.

It did seem likely the Packers would move on from Kirksey, especially late in the season. Kirksey’s snap counts were reduced later in the year.

Prior to that, Kirksey had often been on the field for 100 percent of the defensive snaps, or close to that number, according to Pro Football Reference. But in the final four games of the season, his defensive snap counts were 69 percent, 71 percent, 22 percent, and 47 percent.

He played 27 percent of the defensive snaps in the divisional round win over the Los Angeles Rams, and 45 percent against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game.

With Kirksey playing fewer snaps later in the season, along with the impressive play by Krys Barnes in his rookie year, the Packers decided to make a change at inside linebacker, creating some cap room by releasing Kirksey.

But it’s good to see Kirksey finding a new team quickly after signing with the Texans.