It's defense week for our snap count and salary-cap series for the Houston Texans. We'll take a look in the middle first.

Inside linebacker

Brian Cushing: 689 snaps, 64.9 percent

Mike Mohamed: 481 snaps, 46.2 percent

Justin Tuggle: 258 snaps, 24.3 percent

Akeem Dent: 211 snaps, 19.9 percent

Jeff Tarpinian: 39 snaps, 3.7 percent

This position saw a lot of rotation due in part to schematic reasons, in part to the team managing Cushing as he returned from his second major knee surgery in two years, and in part to their efforts to determine the best option to start beside Cushing. Tuggle, Dent and Mohamed all saw time starting. Tuggle mostly earlier in the season, and Dent took over later. Dent arrived in Houston via the trade that sent quarterback T.J. Yates to Atlanta. It was a sudden change for the linebacker, who becomes a free agent in March, but as he adjusted he became a fixture on the Texans' defense.