The Houston Texans on Friday released former New York Giants safety Stevie Brown. Sources close to the situation tell me they did this because Brown wasn't likely to make the Texans' roster, that he was aware of that and that he wanted to pursue potential opportunities elsewhere, so he and the team agreed to part ways.

That leads us to Brown's former team, the Giants, who have lost four safeties to potentially season-ending injuries in the past 14 days and didn't have much at the position anyway.

Normally, I brush off all of the "Will the Giants try to sign [insert name]?" questions whenever a player of whom fans have heard is released. But in this case, you should absolutely keep the possibility of Brown returning to the Giants on your radar, because it makes sense.

When you hear that Brown wanted to pursue opportunities elsewhere, it's completely safe to assume he's well aware of the Giants' issues at safety. Brown didn't want to leave the Giants and is surely in touch with former teammates and other members of the organization. He's undoubtedly aware of the injuries to Bennett Jackson, Nat Berhe, Justin Currie and Mykkele Thompson and the fact that the likely starters in Saturday's preseason game -- Brandon Meriweather and Landon Collins -- are both strong safeties. As the Giants' deep safety in 2012, Brown collected eight interceptions.

When Brown, 28, became a free agent this past offseason, the Giants did make an effort to bring him back. But they could not reach agreement on a contract, in part because they were concerned about his health, and he latched on with Houston. Now that it didn't work out for him there, one must assume his price has gone down. In the meantime, the Giants' needs at the position have only increased.

ESPN's Anita Marks, who was first to report Brown's release, said on the air on ESPN 98.7 FM radio in New York that Brown told her he was hoping to return to the Giants.

I don't know what will happen, obviously. It's possible the Giants just don't want the guy back. It wouldn't be out of character for the Giants to tell Brown "thanks, but no thanks" and move forward with what they have at the position. To me, and likely to many of you, it makes a lot of sense to bring back a guy who's played the position for you and could certainly compete for a starting job with the guys you already have and on whom you're not sold. But the Giants do things their way, so you can't assume what makes sense to us makes sense to them. Stay tuned on this one, but don't rule it out.