For the fifth time in the history of the franchise, the Houston Texans are left licking their wounds after a divisional round playoff loss. In the three seasons that ended in divisional round losses prior to this one — 2012, 2016, and 2019 — the Texans made big moves n the subsequent offseason, largely in response to how the playoffs ended.
In 2013, after losing to the Patriots in the 2012 playoffs, the Texans signed future Hall of Famer Ed Reed to import some leadership. In 2017, again after losing to Tom Brady, they shipped out Brock Osweiler and traded up for Deshaun Watson. Finally, in 2020, Bill O’Brien’s mad scientist act led to him trading DeAndre Hopkins and trading for Brandin Cooks (among many other piss poor moves), in the name of “culture.”
The 2024 Texans have the capital, both draft and salary cap capital, to make a big move or two. With DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud in place, any big moves made have a better chance of working out. Those three aforementioned versions of the Texans went a combined 10-38 the following season after the divisional round losses.
With that in mind, let’s explore the four biggest questions for the Texans heading into the offseason, with the understanding that each of these questions might deserve its own post, in more detail, down the road. Here we go:
1. What’s the coaching staff going to look like?
Go ahead and assume that if your coaching staff has a Kyle Shanahan disciple running its offense, and the offense experiences as much improvement and success as the Texans’ offense did, teams will come calling and trying to poach your staff. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik has had interviews with around half a dozen teams for their head coaching vacancies. Quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson is getting interest from at least two teams, New Orleans and Cleveland, for their vacant offensive coordinator positions. If you’re of mind to want to keep both Slowik and Johnson, I think the worst case scenario is they lose just one, either because Slowik doesn’t get an offer, or because Slowik leaves and the team promotes Johnson to OC.
2. Who’s coming back in 2024?
Like most NFL teams, the Texans have a ton of players heading to free agency. By my count, the Texans have 26 players who are heading into free agency. If I had to put them into categories, here is how I would slot them:
PRIORITY (6) – TE Dalton Schultz, DE Jonathan Greenard, CB Steven Nelson, LB Blake Cashman, P Cameron Johnston, K Ka’imi Fairbairn
WILLING TO CHAT WITH THEM (5) – RB Devin Singletary, DT Sheldon Rankins, DL Khalil Davis, DE Derek Barnett, CB Des King
SEE YA LATER (14) – WR Noah Brown, OT George Fant, DE Jerry Hughes, G Michael Deiter, OT Charlie Heck, LB Denzel Perryman, S Kareem Jackson, S DeAndre Houston-Carson, S Adrian Amos, CB Tavierre Thomas, OT Josh Jones, DT Teair Tart, RB Dare Ogunbowale, S Eric Murray
GRANDFATHERED FOREVER (1) – LS Jon Weeks
The Texans have oodles of salary cap space, and they’ll do some big time shopping, but they may need to use a sizable portion to retain some of their own guys (or extend someone like Nico Collins).
3. What will be the big ticket moves, if any?
Depending on what website you consult, the Texans have anywhere from $60 million to $80 million in cap space. As mentioned above, a decent chunk of that will be used to retain a few of their own free agents. They should have ample money left over to sign a big ticket free agent or two. Nick Caserio has shown he’s willing to make big moves using draft capital, the Will Anderson trade being the biggest, but he’s never dipped into free agency for an A-list signing. Personally, I’d love to see him chase one of the big name free agent defensive tackles, like Chris Jones, Christian Wilkins, or Justin Madubuike. 4. Does the McNair family drama become a distraction?
In a story that just became public knowledge in the last couple weeks, there appears to be some degree of turmoil bubbling between factions within the McNair family. Cary McNair, brother of Texans CEO Cal McNair, back in November, filed a request with the courts to declare Janice McNair, their mother and the actual owner of the Texans, incapacitated. Cary McNair wants guardianship over her, a development that, if approved, would cause massive upheaval and stress for the Texans’ organization, according to an affidavit filed by Janice and Cal McNair in response to Cary’s request. For what it’s worth, Cal and his wife Hannah have not shown any signs of concern in their public interactions since the request was filed. We will see how this plays out.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
