After last season ended with the disastrous playoff loss to Indianapolis, the Texans knew they had to rebuild their offensive line and secondary.

The pass coverage and pass defense had to be addressed in the offseason. General manager Brian Gaine and coach Bill O'Brien used the draft and free agency to acquire three offensive tackles and six defensive backs, including four cornerbacks.

Of the five free agents Gaine signed at offensive tackle and defensive back, only cornerback Bradley Roby counts against the compensatory formula. The others — offensive tackle Matt Kalil, cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun and safeties Tashaun Gipson and Jahleel Addae — had been released by their previous teams and don't count against the compensatory formula.

As it stands today, the Texans are plus-three in compensatory picks for next year's draft. Safety Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Kareem Jackson could bring them third- or fourth-round draft choices in 2020.

By the way, beginning Thursday, no free agent signing with a new team counts against the compensatory formula. Another wave of free agency is coming with veterans signing shorter and less-lucrative contracts. Expect the Texans to add another free agent or two at some point.

The rookies report to NRG Stadium on Thursday night, and the first day of the rookie minicamp is Friday.

O'Brien and his assistants welcome the seven draft choices and 20 undrafted free agents as well as some who're getting tryouts in an attempt to earn contracts.

Offensive line coach Mike Devlin and secondary coach Anthony Midget may be the assistants most excited about the rookie minicamp.

Devlin will be developing offensive tackles Tytus Howard (first round) and Max Scharping (second). Howard wasn't drafted to sit on the bench, so it's going to be interesting to see how fast he develops. If he's as good as the Texans think he is, he should be starting on the left side in the first game at New Orleans.

Right tackle Seantrel Henderson has made a successful recovery from ankle surgery that sidelined him last season. If Henderson can hold off the challenge for his job, Scharping could move inside to guard and compete with Zach Fulton on the right side.

Kalil, the only free agent signing in the offensive line, will be brought along slowly until he's recovered from the knee injury that cost him last season with Carolina.

When Kalil is 100 percent, it's going to get crowded at left tackle when he joins Howard and last year's starter, Julién Davenport.

The only starting job in the offensive line that's safe belongs to center Nick Martin. Martinas Rankin, a third-round pick last year, should compete with Senio Kelemete for the starting job at left guard.

Eventually, the starters should include one first-round draft choice (Howard), two second-round picks (Martin and Scharping) and one third-round selection (Rankin) among their five starters up front.

As for the secondary, cornerback Lonnie Johnson (second round) will play outside and compete for playing time behind Johnathan Joseph. Xavier Crawford (sixth) should be in the mix on the inside with Aaron Colvin and Boddy-Calhoun.

Two of the top-three safeties are new. Gipson was signed to start opposite Justin Reid. Last week, Gaine made what could turn out to be a shrewd move when he signed Jahleel Addae as the third safety to replace Andre Hal.

Gaine and O'Brien harp on the culture around the locker room, and, like Gipson, Addae should be an ideal fit.

Addae, 29, played his first six years with the Los Angeles Chargers. He started every game the past two seasons when he played more snaps than any player on the team. He started at strong safety in 2017 but moved to free safety last year when strong safety Derwin James was drafted in the first round.

When the Chargers released Addae in March, they said it was for salary cap reasons. They saved $5 million on the cap. At the time, coach Anthony Lynn praised Addae in a team release, calling him a "high character individual" a "consummate professional" and a "great mentor to a lot of younger guys."

That's music to O'Brien's ears. Addae also got a good recommendation from O'Brien's assistant secondary coach, D'Anton Lynn, son of the Chargers' head coach who worked with the Los Angeles' secondary before joining the Texans last year.

The Texans' OTAs start on May 20, but the coaches will get to see their rookies on the field 10 days earlier. Among the 20 udrafted free agents to keep an eye on are Ohio State receiver Johnnie Dixon, Clemson defensive end Albert Huggins and Michigan running back Karan Higdon.

O'Brien loves competition, and he's going to get a lot of it.