HOUSTON – The Houston Texans have hired Cedric Smith to be the team’s strength and conditioning coach and promoted Perry Carter to assistant defensive backs coach, the team announced today.

Smith, 41, spent the last three seasons in the same capacity with the Kansas City Chiefs. Before joining the Chiefs, he was the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Denver Broncos from 2001-06. Smith played seven seasons at fullback in the NFL for Minnesota (1990), New Orleans (1991), Washington (1994-95) and Arizona (1996-98). He was a three-time academic All-American at Florida, where he blocked for Pro Football Hall of Fame RB Emmitt Smith.

Smith has previous ties to many members of the Texans coaching staff. While in Kansas City, Smith worked with Texans defensive backs coach David Gibbs for two seasons in 2007-08. In Denver, he coached with head coach Gary Kubiak, offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, defensive coordinator Frank Bush and tight ends coach Brian Pariani. Wide receivers coach Larry Kirksey was Smith’s position coach at Florida from 1986-89 and special teams coordinator Joe Marciano coached Smith in New Orleans.

Carter, 38, heads into his fifth season on the Texans staff. He spent the last four seasons as a defensive assistant, working primarily with the defensive backs. Carter originally joined the Texans staff during training camp in 2006 as part of the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship program and was hired in a full-time capacity that season.

Carter began his coaching career in 2004 as the secondary coach at Texas A&M-Commerce. After a year in private business, he returned to coaching in 2006 as the defensive backs/defensive assistant coach for the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europa.

Carter was a four-year letterman at Southern Mississippi from 1990-94 and was drafted in the fourth round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Carter played for Kansas City in 1995 and Oakland from 1996-98. He also played five season in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimos (2000-01), Montreal Alouettes (2002) and British Columbia Lions (2003-04).