Tashaun Gipson on returning to Texans: It’s ‘dream come true’

Tashaun Gipson couldn’t be happier about continuing his career as an NFL safety in the state he considers home with the Houston Texans.

The Texans signed Gipson on Tuesday, four days after the Jacksonville Jaguars released him, providing what he views as a perfect situation. Gipson, who was a three-sport star at Kimball High School in Dallas before ending up at the University of Wyoming, spent the past three seasons with the Jaguars after four with the Cleveland Browns.

‘It’s just always something about playing home, in front of your home crowd, in front of your home state’

“It’s a true opportunity and blessing to play anywhere continue to fulfill your dream of playing the National Football League,” Gipson told Bruce Murray and Bruce Gradkowski on the SiriusXM Blitz. “But it’s just always something about playing home, in front of your home crowd, in front of the home state. And for me, Houston is truly like home, three and a half hours away, down the street from Dallas, so essentially, these are truly like me coming back home. I think that just this opportunity to be able to come back to the Texans organization and come home and be able to play in front of my family, week-in and week-out, was just very enticing an opportunity to be able to do that.

“When the pen was to the paper, it was just a relief and just that overwhelming feeling like, ‘Man, I’m home, I’m truly home.'”

“When we got the ball rolling with Houston, it was just kind of like that urgency and that push to say, ‘Hey, we want to make sure that this thing gets done, man, because this will truly be like a dream come true.’ To come back and play in my home state after being away for seven years of my career, three in Jacksonville and four in Cleveland, being able to come home is indescribably. When the pen was to the paper, it just was a relief and just that overwhelming feeling like, ‘Man, I’m home, I’m truly home.’”

‘I’m mature enough at this point of my career that I understanding it’s part of the business’

Gipson said he did not see his release from the Jaguars coming at the end of the 2018 season. His first indication that his time in Jacksonville had reached its end didn’t come until the final two days of the NFL Scouting Combine, when his agent informed him he was on the trading block.

“It was kind of unfortunate, it caught me off guard,” Gipson said. “And then, six days later, I was released. No inclination that that was going to be part of the works, a part of the plans, but I’m also mature enough at this point of my career that I understand it’s part of a business. You just have to roll with the punches and just move forward and, thankfully, I landed on my feet.”