Recent Patriots cornerback Keion Crossen ‘very highly thought of’ within Texans organization

Johnson Bademosi’s inclusion in a trade between the Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins had a ripple effect.

In the eyes of Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, that ripple effect led to another former New England Patriots cornerback being acquired.

Keion Crossen.

“Crossen was a guy that when we decided to include Johnson Bademosi, who did a lot of great things for us here – that was a tough decision, but we decided to include Bade in the trade with Miami – we felt like we had to replace that,” O’Brien said in his Monday press conference

Houston had sent Bademosi, offensive tackle Julién Davenport and three premier future draft choices to Miami in exchange for former No. 13 overall pick Laremy Tunsil, wideout Kenny Stills and two late-rounders over Labor Day weekend.

“Crossen’s a little bit different player that Bade, but both have excellent special-teams production,” added O’Brien.

New England agreed to send Crossen to Houston at the 53-man roster deadline on Saturday in exchange for a 2020 sixth-round draft choice.

Crossen left Foxborough having carved a place on special teams as a rookie in 2018. The Western Carolina Catamount appeared in 11 games last regular season on the way to recording 14 total tackles and 25 percent of the snaps on special teams.

His role as punt gunner wasn’t overlooked. Neither were his intangibles.

“Keion Crossen played on a Super Bowl team last year, played well in the AFC Championship Game and is a great guy,” said O’Brien, who spent five seasons on New England’s coaching staff. “He comes to our organization very highly thought of. And I just met him, just met him this morning. He’s got a lot of energy and I think he’s going to be a good addition.”

The No. 243 overall selection from last April now finds himself alongside former Patriots character coach Jake Easterby with the Texans.

And Crossen also finds himself wearing No. 35.

It’s the same digits he’d worn with New England, and ones he’d worn while leading the defense with a dozen tackles last Thursday night in the preseason finale versus the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium.

Crossen finished that August exhibition with five passes defensed and an interception.

“Has played outside, has played inside and, again, will contribute a lot on special teams,” added O’Brien.

New England’s current cornerback group for Week 1 includes Stephon Gilmore, Jason McCourty, Jonathan Jones, J.C. Jackson and rookie second-rounder Joejuan Williams.