Texans might be NFL's most disappointing team, and their offseason set up this 03 start Charles McDonaldSeptember 22, 2025 at 8:58 PM 1 There may not be a bigger disappointment in the NFL this year than the Houston Texans, who have gotten off to an 03 start despite moderately high expectations for t...
- - Texans might be NFL's most disappointing team, and their offseason set up this 0-3 start
Charles McDonaldSeptember 22, 2025 at 8:58 PM
1
There may not be a bigger disappointment in the NFL this year than the Houston Texans, who have gotten off to an 0-3 start despite moderately high expectations for them coming off back-to-back divisional round appearances. However, it was clear during the offseason that they didn't have the best plan in place to complete their No. 1 task: fixing the offense.
The 2024 season featured former Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud and a top-flight receiver in Nico Collins … and not much else. Through three games, they don't even look like the 2024 Texans — they look like something far worse. And a good chunk of this was predictable.
Houston had one main thing to do to get its offense back up to the standard it set during Stroud's rookie season in 2023 — improve the offensive line. The Texans' line was a massive problem last season, tanking their hopes of an effective rushing attack and putting far too much pressure on Stroud to be an elevating force in a sea of chaos. While they made the playoffs, that was largely due to the success of their face-eating defense that was littered with stars at all three levels.
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Here's another way to say the same thing: According to TruMedia, the Texans' offense ranked 31st in success rate last season while their defense ranked first. Without Stroud they had nothing, and that was something that needed to be fixed.
OK, right on. Fixing the offensive line is a clear plan going forward. Trading away longtime offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil after an up-and-down season could be explained as a look toward the future and adding multiple pieces to the offensive line. Where the Texans went horrifically wrong was deciding which offensive linemen to target in free agency and the draft. Somehow, Houston's front office decided that mashing together a Frankenstein's monster of some of the worst offensive linemen in the league was the medicine to their ailments.
Prior to the start of free agency, the Texans traded a sixth-round draft pick for Vikings oft-maligned guard Ed Ingram, and signed veteran tackles Cam Robinson and Trent Brown, and journeyman guard Laken Tomlinson over the following weeks. So, Tunsil out. Ingram, Robinson, Brown and Tomlinson in. And all four prior to the NFL Draft. This is not to denigrate where those players are in their careers, but the idea that an improved offensive line worthy of playoff contention was going to come from players who shouldn't be starting anymore was bold. The Texans even saw Robinson up close over the years considering he played for the Jaguars for eight seasons!
That group of players could provide solid depth, but considering they added these guys so early in the league year, it's clear that core was their plan. That's strange and confusing from a guy like general manager Nick Caserio, who has made so many other good moves to build this playoff-level team over the past few years. Houston added tackle Aireontae Ersery in the second round of the draft to man the blindside for Stroud and grow into a capable player. That's not even a super high investment for a starting left tackle, and second-round starting tackles can be expected to do only so much as rookies (or else they would've gone in the first round.) Ersery has promise, but his start has looked like a non-first-round rookie making starts at left tackle.
All of this has led to an offense that is worse this year compared to last year in terms of points per drive (1.48 to 1.19), percentage of drives without a first down (31.6% to 37.5%), turnover percentage (9.3% to 15.6%), rushing success rate (31.5% to 24.6%), red zone drives ending in a touchdown (49.1% to 0%) and third-and-short conversion rate (56.7% to 33.3%).
The Texans' offense was already bad last year and now has taken another step backward. Almost all of this can be pointed at the baffling offensive line moves. Breaking in a new offensive coordinator in Nick Caley with a young quarterback is already tough enough, but the Texans didn't give themselves a chance with their decisions up front.
And now it's a long road back to playoff contention, and the Texans will be facing another offseason where they need to make major changes on offense. It's just hard to see an offense this bad clawing back from 0-3, even with one of the most talented defenses in the league behind them.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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