Houston Texans reloaded
Soon as the preseason ended, the Houston Texans decided to give their roster a jolt before beginning their 2019 campaign. Saturday, Houston traded linebacker Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for linebackers Barkevious Mingo and Jacob Martin as well as a 3rd round pick. Later in the day, they sent 2 first rounders and a 2nd round pick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Kenny Stills. A lot of people clowned – pun intended if you laughed – the Texans for the first trade, but it kind of makes sense being when looking at the latter deal. Why put any effort into
The Texans found themselves facing a dilemma that they knew the answer to: spend money on the hopes of forming a mega pass rushing tandem with Clowney and J.J. Watt, or invest in the future and protection of your franchise quarterback. Clowney has become a good player, and could be entering in his prime, but there’s no sense in toying around with whether or not to give the man his money while there are issues piling up around the offensive line. Tunsil is the answer to some of these issues, especially on blind side of quarterback Deshaun Watson. His strength and athleticism has him very high on the list with both current and former Texans. It’s also worth noting that Stills brings value to this wide receiver group as well. The Texans have constantly seen injuries from receiver Will Fuller and receiver Keke Coutee suffered his own season-ending injury last year. Stills comes in as a quality option, should either one of those guys go down again with injury. He
The New Look Secondary
Last season, the Texans secondary was pretty below average, ranking only 28th in the league. Despite being one of the top teams in sack totals, they had issues within their secondary giving up big plays, particularly in the playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. So the team decided to make sweeping adjustments to fix the issues. They let long time Texan Kareem Jackson go to another team and cut former 1st round pick Kevin Johnson. They brought in cornerback Brandon Roby from the Denver Broncos and safety Tashaun Gipson from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is a group that could have some real promise to it overall. Roby is a guy who has shown the ability to stick to a receiver closely which could be useful in crossing routes and prevent any yards after the catch. The new additions are good but they should be able to mix well with some returning pieces. Safety Justin Reid is looking to build on a promising rookie season while Jonathan Joseph brings in his veteran presence to the group. It’s a good mixture of renovation and rejuveneation that should keep this team at a competitive level throughout the season.
The Progress of the Offensive Line
Offensive line was one of the biggest needs that this team needed coming into this season. Even though he beat an injury that shortened his rookie and had terrific year last season, Deshaun Watson took a beating behind the offensive line. In fact, he made headlines after the Dallas Cowboys game when it was reported that he received blood clots from taking so many hits in that game and could not take the team plane to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars on the road the following week. Ironically, he healed from that but the o-line didn’t heal from their own ailments. Fast forward to the offseason where the Texans drafted tackle Tytus Howard in the 1st round and offensive lineman Max Scharping in the 2nd round. They even signed former Carolina Panther Matt Khalil, but ended up releasing amongst the final roster cuts. They even sent Martinas Rankin to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange running back Carlos Hyde.
All eyes will be focused on the offensive line this year, especially with the new additions Tunsil and Howard. For Howard, it might take some time for him to get accustomed to things in action that counts but Tunsil will be ready to go. Watson had a tremendous season last year, and it could probably be a million times better if the protection was even slightly better. The fans will see the difference of what a legit, healthy protection can do for a QB.
Is This Season Set Up to be O’Brien’s Last
In all honesty, Bill O’ Brien is a good football coach but is the time starting to tick on his tenure? When the former Penn State coach came to the team in 2014, he essentially had to win games with no-name quarterbacks for 3 years, including back-to-back playoff berths behind Brian Hoyer and Brock Osweiler in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Fast forward to last week’s Clowney trade, which prompted the hashtag, #FireO’Brien. Sure, it’s a little overreactive from the fans’ end, but it seems to reveal an underlying sentiment that Texans Nation is becoming impatient with where this team is headed. Yes, he just got a franchise QB, who has dangerous weapons at receiver, but will the renovated secondary, offensive line and new offensive coordinator be enough to save him?
The Texans must make sure they do not repeat the mistakes that were had with Gary Kubiak. Kubiak came in when the team was a perennial basement dweller. He gave them a couple of winning and mediocre seasons, which he turned into 2 straight playoff appearances. O’ Brien has only one losing season with this team but has been criticized for his playcalling, something that he could remedy if handing over those duties to new OC Tim Kelly, whom he has praised for such duties after the preseason game against the Detroit Lions.
While everybody has been raving about the trades the Texans did or did not make, it almost took the attention away from the fact the that the Texans currently do not have a real general manager in place, since firing Brian Gaine. The team is being ran by four different front office executives as opposed to naming one central figure. However, once a new person is put in place for the role – whether Nick Caesario or not – you can expect a new direction to be implemented, and in some cases, that might involve getting a new coach.
The Texans have a lot of pieces to work this year and also a tough schedule. As mentioned earlier, the fans’ sentiment seems to be eager for a title now. They see around the league that traditional powerhouse teams are losing their superstars to retirement, old age or free agency while the traditional bottom feeders are starting to come up by cashing in on their high draft picks. The Texans are kind of the in the middle of that, but O’Brien has to push this team to the next level or he might get pushed out.