A new look Texans offensive line, just like every other year

In 2024, the starting Texans offensive line was Laremy Tunsil, Kenyon Green, Juice Scruggs, Shaq Mason, and Tytus Howard. None of those players are Texans today. In fact, the only offensive linemen on that roster still on the team today are Jarrett Patterson and Blake Fisher, who have been buried this offseason and may struggle to make the 2026 roster.

There's never been a consistent Texans offensive line under Nick Caserio. Every offseason, movement is constant. From the cursed names I'm about to put in front of your eyes to remind you of how bleak things have been – A.J. Cann, Justin Britt, Marcus Cannon – to today. Tunsil and Howard have been the only real constants, and they're both off to end their careers elsewhere.

It has been easy to quibble with the players that Caserio has brought in – I even dabbled with being pre-right on Mason as an older trade back in the day – and that comes with the territory of the buckets he's shopping in. Good young linemen rarely become available. All of which is to say that while I do retain my quibbles with the players signed, I also don't think there's a lack of a guiding purpose behind the moves.

If I had been given the ability to take control of Nick Caserio's body for 24 hours, the Texans would simply have signed Cade Mays instead of Braden Smith.

That's about what it boils down to for me. If the Texans want to turn into a run-first offense, they need as many asskickers as they can. Trent Brown isn't some sort of superstar right tackle that has to win a job, but the one thing he can do is be 6-foot-8, 380 pounds and push some (relatively) smaller people around. I don't think it was a coincidence that the team started to have more success in the run game when he was healthy, nor do I think it is a coincidence that they folded in New England when he was a surprise scratch with an ankle injury.

Mays, at 6-foot-5, 325 pounds, is a huge lineman for a center. I would have simply prioritized that kind of body and the fact that he's turning 27 (i.e. is a second-contract player) for the way that my offense clearly wants to play football. Run out a three-man right side of Mays, the (rightfully) re-signed Ed Ingram, and Brown and everyone will respect the run. In theory, anyway.

What the Texans did instead is sign two older players with a better history of play in Smith and Wyatt Teller. I'm not actually sure that those players are vast improvements on last year's right tackle and left guard play, but it also probably doesn't matter. Smith's contract is two years and $20 million and if he doesn't play well in 2026 he'll almost assuredly be a post-June 1 cut to save $6.5 million and try again in 2027. Teller's two year, $16 million contract is inflated with $7.25 million in base salary he almost assuredly won't see in 2027, where the Texans can release him for $4 million in cap savings. I think both of these players have their best years behind them, but the way that Caserio worked this makes it hard to even get upset because it's barely a commitment. It is, as in all things Texans offensive line, versatility over everything.

I don't think a culture where you turn over two offensive line positions every offseason is good, but we're here because the Texans didn't hit their draft picks.

If Green, Fisher, Scruggs, and Patterson had worked out, the Texans would be in a great spot and probably could have kept Tunsil or Howard at cost. If two of them had worked out, the Texans are probably in a spot where they're only turning one position over this offseason. But when you spend four picks – two seconds and a first – on four players and get zero starters ... well, that is the reason for the turnover.

The only Texans team that ever ran the ball well for more than the random season at a time, the 2009-2012 vintage with Arian Foster, started Duane Brown, Wade Smith, Chris Myers, and Eric Winston for most of 2009-2012. I cut my teeth as an internet football writer being mad about Chris Myers being too small if you want to see how takes can age poorly. And hey, speaking of that:

I don't understand why the Texans want to keep Jake Andrews as a starter.

To me, he was the clear weak link of the line last year. He was literally a waiver claim. It's fine that he's OL coach Cole Popovich's boy, and he does have some "played through a high-ankle sprain" level of excuse. But I didn't see anything to make me think he was a must-start player at any point, and his snaps in the Steelers Wild Card game were unilaterally rough.

To me he is – say it, as I've learned nothing – a little too small to be a good center on a team that wants the running game to be its bread-and-butter. It's not like he was a major liability as a player or anything, but I'd be wanting him to battle for the job, not handing it to him. (And no, Evan Brown doesn't move the needle for me.)

This was always going to be how this offseason played out – and, crucially – I'm not sure it actually matters

As I wrote about in the immediate aftermath of the New England loss, the offensive line was always going to be an easy target for whatever upgrades the Texans can put together on offense. Once you committed to bringing OC Nick Caley back, the Texans run five-deep at receiver assuming Tank Dell returns and have a rookie contract quarterback who has gone 28-18 in his three years as a starter. (You see me resorting to win-loss record here because I think it would be narratively unfeasible to move on from Stroud, not to defend his playoff performance.) The running game and offensive line were always going to be the main target areas. And the expenses that they took out here haven't kept them from doing anything on defense, where they arguably added a luxury piece in Reed Blankenship as their No. 2 safety.

The salary cap has ballooned to the point where the Texans having $66 million in dead money this year simply doesn't matter. Heck, while I know people are clamoring about a potential Kamari Lassiter free agency in 2027, I'm not sure they're in any way going to be priced out of that either. It's going to be a football decision.

The Texans have a lot of top-100 draft pick ammo to aim at their preferred guys, and they'll almost assuredly add more offensive linemen to the mix. Never mind the fact that they already have depth pieces everywhere and have 10 linemen that were on a 53-man roster when healthy last year already.

None of this is to downplay the idea of having a good running game – clearly I believe it matters and that's why I preferred the idea of Mays – but I actually don't think the offensive line was holding the Texans back from anything last year. It wasn't good. But it wasn't 2024's blown-stunt-pick-up extravaganza.

No, what kept them from the golden ticket was Stroud, Caley, and the interplay therein. Once you provide enough baseline support, it is simply time for the two most important pieces of the offense to look as good as they have in flashes and take the steps. That, and that alone, is what will determine whether your 2025 Houston Texans – who I would go as far as to call the team with the most championship equity in franchise history – go anywhere from here.