Report: DJ Swearinger could be traded by Texans

A former South Carolina standout could be on the move in the NFL.

“I’m told the #Texans are trying to trade safety DJ Swearinger,” NFL Network national insider Ian Rapoport said Tuesday on Twitter. “He’s started 22 games over his first 2 seasons.”

Texans general manager Rick Smith spoke with the media on Tuesday and neither confirmed nor denied the trade rumor.

“I understand there’s a report out there. But here’s the deal,” Smith said. “First of all, we make it a practice not to discuss negotiations publicly, whether that’s with an agent or a player or with another team, with respect to trade opportunities. Those conversations are happening this time of year and there’s a lot of information and misinformation out there.”

Swearinger, 23, was a second round draft selection in 2013. In 32 career games he has 74 tackles, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.

“What I will tell you about D.J. is he’s a really good football player for us,” Smith said. “He did a nice job last year in that role, in our third-down packages, and was really productive for us. We expect that he will do that again. I think that D.J.’s abilities are even such that he can play even more in the back end on some of the first- and second-down stuff. He really found himself a niche last year in some of our sub packages.”

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 9:05 AM with the headline "Report: DJ Swearinger could be traded by Texans."