HOUSTON (AP) -The Houston Texans signed former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Dexter McCleon on Sunday, adding depth to a secondary depleted by an injury a day earlier to Demarcus Faggins.

McCleon was cut by the Chiefs in March along with teammate Eric Warfield when it appeared that the team would be several million dollars over the salary cap.

The Texans didn't have much experience in their group of cornerbacks before Faggins, whose fractured foot will require surgery. But that injury made adding a veteran even more vital.

Houston has Phillip Buchanon, who is coming off of an injury-shortened and disappointing first year. The star of the group is third-year player Dunta Robinson, who suffered through a sophomore slump after earning runner-up honors for defensive rookie of the year in 2004.

Aside from those two, the only player with more than two years of experience is seldom-used seven-year veteran Lewis Sanders.

Robinson said losing Faggins, who will be out up to eight weeks, is disappointing.

``It hurts the depth. I hate seeing back-ups not expecting to come in and have to play twos and threes,'' he said. ``I kind of feel bad because you want to get out there and help those guys and make everything right.''

Robinson rolled his ankle earlier this week in practice and has been limited since. He had precautionary X-rays that showed no damage and Texans coach Gary Kubiak said he should recover soon.

McLeon said he hoped to catch on with another team and has been training almost every day in his offseason home of Atlanta.

``I've been working out, training hard the whole time,'' McCleon said. ``My conditioning's good and I'm just glad to be out here and just trying to get better.''

McCleon played six seasons for St. Louis before spending the last three with the Chiefs. He played in 11 games last season and had 20 tackles and two interceptions. He has 318 tackles, 30 interceptions and 4 1/2 sacks in his nine-year career.

Kubiak said the team isn't finished looking for defensive backs and plans to work out some prospects Sunday or Monday.

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