As the NFL offseason
is in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate where each team was in
2017, and where they plan to go in the New Year. Let’s begin the review of
the Houston Texans.
2017 Season Recap:
The 2017 season under Coach Bill O’Brien left a lot to the imagination
after taking a chance and drafting former Clemson Tiger and National Champion
Deshaun Watson in the first round of the draft. As training camp was fully
underway, Tom Savage apparently beat out Watson to become the week one starter
for the Texans. The similar cast of characters remained on the roster with some
tinkering as O’Brien found himself on the hot seat going into his fourth season
as the Texans boss. Vast improvement was the expectation on a team that would
have to lean heavily on their defense if they planned to make any kind of run.
Entering week one of the season, it didn’t take long for O’Brien to cut
bait and relieve his starting quarterback from his position due to inept play.
Passing the keys to the young rookie - Deshaun Watson, what the NFL world was
about to witness was something we hadn’t seen from a rookie in quite some time.
Watson’s former Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney provided a gleaming review of his
former star before the NFL draft, comparing Watson to the likes of some
all-time greats, he wasn’t far off. Watson took a week and half (weeks 1 &
2), to get acclimated to the offense gaining his first victory in week 2
against the Bengals showing his unique running ability. Week three against the
Patriots saw a quick moving, sure minded look to be a 5 year veteran under center
for the Texans. Watson performed admirably just losing out last minute to an
unbelievable catch to Brandin Cooks to win the game. The following week Watson
elevated his game further torching the Titans 57-14 on the strength of his 5
total touchdowns (4 passing & 1 rushing). Week 5 highlighted more
unbelievable play from Watson as he lit up the Chiefs this time connecting on 5
touchdown passes though in a losing effort. Moving to week six against the
Browns, Watson disposed of Cleveland with ease tossing up yet another 3
touchdown passes, now making a name for himself around the league. Going into
their bye week at 3-3, Houston entertained travel to Seattle to face off
against the 12th man. The game was nothing short of spectacular as
Wilson and Watson combined for over 850 yards passing and 8 touchdowns,
absolutely incredible. Again with the heroics of the rookie super star in the
making, the Texans dropped another contest dipping their record to 3-4 on the
season. After the game, Russell Wilson praised the play of Watson making claims
of greatness in the young man.
As Houston entered week 8 preparations on the practice field, news
quickly broke that Deshaun Watson on a designed read option play, fell to the
ground with a non-contact injury and needed help to get off the field. As the
evaluation concluded, it was clear that Watson was lost for the season to an
ACL tear to the dismay of all fans of football. As Watson was sent to injured
reserve, the Texans season became defined by high profile injuries to their
star talent. JJ Watt and Whitney Mercilus were lost two weeks before Watson and
sent to I.R. in week 8. Houston unbelievably had 22 players sent to injured
reserve as the season wore on ultimately stamping what was about to turn into a
lost season. Down the stretch the Texans were only able to be victorious in one
more contest in the final 10 weeks of the regular season. Finishing with a 4-12
record, the only solace to gain is that they could improve their roster further
with higher draft selections.
2018 Offseason
Workbook:
Offseason Review:
As the Texans geared
up for offseason activities, Coach Bill O’Brien convinced ownership to allow
him at least one more kick at the can with the Houston club. Having to adjust
his coaching staff from a season ago, notable change included the return of defensive
coordinator Romeo Crennel to the team. The most noteworthy name to leave the
Texans staff was former defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel as he was pilfered
from the Texans and offered the Head Coaching job in Tennessee. With almost a
full remake of specialty coaches on the staff, 19 coaches round out the 2018
edition of the Houston Texans.
Offensively with
obvious star Deshaun Watson, this Texans team has the potential to be right up
there with the cream of the crop in the NFL. While Watson came in relief in
week one, he literally only played five total games producing an amazing 1699
pass yards, 19 touchdowns, 269 rush yards, adding 2 more TD’s on the ground,
quite astonishing. The depth of this Texans squad isn’t far off from being able
to sustain production on a weekly basis. Adding a few more pieces to this
offense in the form of a stand out running back, could make them essentially a
power house on offense. With DeAndre Hopkins catching everything in sight and
having speedster Will Fuller V taking the tops off of opposing defenses, a
solid feared running attack would strike fear in other teams. Perhaps a few
weaknesses the Texans brain trust should keep a close eye on, is their tight
end situation along with their slot receiver position. These areas are in
desperate need of increasing the level of talent to make this offense that much
more versatile. Finishing off the season with their disastrous luck of
injuries, the offense fell off a cliff ranking 17th in points for
(21.1 PPG), 20th in total yards (320.0 YPG), 21st in pass
yards (204.9 YPG), and 14th in total rush yards (115.1 YPG). While
these numbers would’ve been vastly different and much more impressive had
Watson played the entire campaign, and provided the injury bug doesn’t sweep through
the Texans locker room again in 2018, these numbers should be top five in the
NFL next season.
Amidst all the
injuries suffered to the defense, none were greater than the loss of JJ Watt
and Whitney Mercilus. With the loss of
those top talents, added playing time and experience was gained by young
players such Zach Cunningham and Benardrick McKinney, which will indeed help
the Texans moving forward. Together, both line backers were able to combine for
a total of 185 tackles for this defense which is rather impressive. If Watt and
Mercilus can regain full health and get back on the field, this front seven has
the potential to be absolutely dominatingly impressive. Improvements need to be
made in terms of shoring up the defensive back end as they were gashed far too
often last season, something that was to be expected once they let AJ Bouye
walk in free agency to the Jaguars. Adding specialized depth to the defensive
line thus easy to create rotational matchups, would also work in favor of this
defense. With all this chatter, we still haven’t mentioned the great play of
Jadeveon Clowney! Once Clowney was forced to step up his game, he truly didn’t
disappoint. He was a force on the field the likes the Texans organization hoped
he would be the day they drafted the physical specimen. Racking up 9.5 sacks, 2
forced fumbles, while adding 59 total tackles, gave Jadeveon a career season he
could be proud of. Once again going into training camp the Houston Texans
defense will be on display with heavy expectations attached to them. Baring
health issues, ADF definitely likes what we see from the potential of this
unit.
Rostered Free Agents:
While the Texans enjoy
a whopping 65 million dollars in cap space they currently have 17 unrestricted
free agents to contend with. Notable names that could receive contract calls from
new general manager Brian Gaine are Johnathan Joseph, provided he chooses to
take a team friendly deal at the ripe age of 33 years old. Starting Guard
Xavier Su’a-Filo should garner decent money coming off his rookie deal and
playing quite favorably. In season waiver wire claim Andre Ellington could be a
solid addition to a team that will require receiving help from the back field.
Another running back that could receive a contract is career Texan Alfred Blue.
With rumors that Lamar Miller has over stayed his welcome, keeping a few
reliable backs to round out the squad might be the right decision. If the
Texans need, they could easily round out their depth with the remaining free
agents on the list. From the looks of it with all the cap room they possess,
they should be large players in the open market.
Right out the gates
from recent breaking news, Houston cut bait with long time veteran often
injured line backer Brian Cushing. The move instantly saved the Texans 7.64
million dollars in cap room while getting a headache off their roster. While
Jadeveon Clowney is in the final year of his contract, the correct move in this
instance should be to offer him an extension that would bring his 2018 cap number
down from an enormous 13.8 million to something more reasonable and team
friendly. As mentioned, Lamar Miller is a prime candidate to be on the chopping
block as Houston could save another 4.75 million cutting him lose. As they look
to improve their tight end position, releasing Ryan Griffin would save an
additional 2.5 million dollars. Having all that capital and potential to
generate more, we fully expect Houston to go after top names such as - Trumaine
Johnson, Eric Reid or Kenny Vaccaro, and Trey Burton to name a few. Adding a
veteran quarterback should be on the menu as simple insurance to aid in a
playoff run should Watson find the medical room once again. Adding top notch
talent should come via the open market as Houston doesn’t hold their top end
selections in the upcoming draft.
NFL Draft:
As mentioned above,
Houston currently doesn’t hold their top two selections in the upcoming draft,
but still house eight picks overall. Having lost picks one and two in previous
trade deals, the Texans do have three 3rd round selections, along
with three 6th rounders with a 4th and a 7th
to round out the board. With definite needs glaring on the roster, especially
when the injury bug hits, Houston must address their depth across the team.
Offensive line and defensive line depth is a true need that could be fixed in
this draft. While the running back position is vastly deep once again, Houston
might strike gold in the third round with a bell-cow that could potentially be
an every down back. Secondary is also an obvious need that could be difficult
to garner unless GM Gaine gets incredibly creative during the draft process and
finds a way to climb the board back into the 2nd round.
While star talent
might be achieved from free agency, the Texans have ample ammunition to apply
great depth with the potential of generating starters with the picks they
currently have.
Overall for 2018:
The Texans are in a
fortunate situation that shows little money being spent on their franchise
quarterback (Deshaun Watson), assisting them to build the team around higher
priced - high-end talent that could take this team over the top in dominating
fashion. Its not difficult in this day and age to revamp the entire outlook
with a handful of key acquisitions. With everything being known that on opening
day of free agency teams always over pay, the key is to find the talent that will
have many productive years with giving yourself an out after 3 years of the
signed contract. We fully expect an upgrade at the running back position to go
along with second year pro D’Onta Foreman, to form a valuable one-two punch
similarly to the Falcons duo in Freeman and Coleman. In our books the Texans
are definitely a team on the rise, so long as Watson recovers and is able to
regain his form from his devastating knee injury. ADF will be watching closely
to see if Watson lost any confidence that may inhibit a return to his
phenomenal rookie year performance.
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