It feels like, ever since the arrival of DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud in 2023, that every Houston Texans training camp has exceeded the previous one in hype, hope, and overall importance. The 2026 iteration of training camp, which begins promptly at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, continues this trend.
After a 2025 season where the Texans were one horrible half of quarterback play away from possibly going to the Super Bowl (most certainly, it prevented them from getting to the AFC Title Game), expectations are, once again, sky high with the Texans in a definitive two year window before they have to start making really tough decisions on who to sign long term and who to let walk due to salary cap constraints.
Over the next two days, we will look at the three biggest questions on either side of the ball, with today’s focus on the offense. Here we go:
Who ends up on the starting five on the offensive line?
For a second straight season, Nick Caserio was busy shopping for new offensive linemen in free agency and in the draft. Last year, the draft worked out okay, as rookie Aireontae Ersery took over at left tackle and never looked back. The rest was a mixed bag, with left guard Laken Tomlinson cut by midseason, but right guard Ed Ingram doing enough to earn a three year extension. The goal in 2026 was clearly to upgrade the physicality, and as such, the Texans drafted guard Keylan Rutledge to possibly play center, and signed guard Wyatt Teller and tackle Braden Smith in free agency. Right now, if we are treating this like the “bracketology”-style fluid forecast for the offensive line, I’d predict that the first group we see goes (left to right) Ersery, Teller, Rutledge, Ingram, and Smith, with Trent Brown lurking at right tackle.
What exactly is Tank Dell, at this point?
If we are going off of the workout videos Dell posts online, then there is real reason for optimism. Watching Dell juke and cut in between stationary cones, you’d never guess that this is a human who had his left knee wrecked in like five different places in December 2024. Things get different, though, going against other human beings. The Texans have handled the wide receiver position this offseason as though there is tremendous confidence in (a) the development of second year receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, and (b) the recovery of Dell. Make no mistake, the return of Dell to even 85 or 90 percent fo what he was is a game changer for an offense that should run the ball better and protect Stroud better. We just really know nothing until the pads go on.
What does redemption look like for C.J. Stroud?
This brings us to the million dollar question of this training camp — if Stroud is still damaged from that playoff collapse, then exactly HOW damaged is he, and what does redemption look like for him? Stroud will get some awesome opportunities early in the schedule with three home games in the first four weeks, against Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Dak Prescott. That’s three of the ten best quaretrbacks in the game, and the Texans have then in Reliant Stadium, which has been a house of horrors for opposing quarterbacks the last couple seasons. In the end, Stroud doesn’t need to get back to his magical rookie level, when he led the league in passing yards per game and had the lowest interception percentage. He needs to run an efficient offense that isn’t constantly forcing the defense into a position where they have to save the day. That happened all too often last season.
