In professional sports, surprises are generally frowned upon. Coaches and front offices like predictability and consistency. I’m old enough to remember a time with the Houston Texans, not all that long ago, where surprises lurked around every corner, and quite honestly, it sucked.
Surprise! David Culley is the new head coach. Surprise! Deshaun Watson asked for a trade. Surprise! Deshaun Watson is untradeable, because 24 women are suing him for being a perv in massage settings (allegedly). Surprise! Josh McCown, who’s never been a coach, is going to be the head coach. No wait! SURPRISE! It’s gonna be Lovie Smith instead!
Sorry for that trip down memory lane, I’m just trying to make a point. The Texans are obviously in a much, much better place now, with a team that’s won 32 games in the last three seasons. The key parts of their roster are virtually all contractually locked up for multiple years. Still, with training camp over halfway done, there have been some surprises for DeMeco Ryans and Nick Caserio, all fairly pleasant. Here are three of them:
Keylan Rutledge is the clear cut leader to play center
It’s no shock that Rutledge figures prominently into the Texans early plans along the offensive line. He was a first round draft pick for a reason, and we knew that he would get a look at playing center for the Texans, even though he played guard in college. What we didn’t see coming was Rutledge adapting to his new position so quickly, to where he is the clear cut leader in the clubhouse, and 2025 starter Jake Andrews may be in danger of not making the team. The selection of Rutledge has become a home run faster than even the most optimistic fan could have imagined.
Woody Marks might be eating into David Montgomery’s usage
Jane Slater of the NFL Network made waves a few weeks ago when she reported that Montgomery, who was presumably brought in to be the Texans’ bell cow running back, and Marks, who was forced into that role last season, would “split carries.” Since camp began, though, Montgomery has looked just fine, but Marks has clearly taken a leap, in part because he had his first real NFL offseason this last spring. Both Montgomery and Marks will see plenty of touches, and the split between the two, in the run game and pass game, may be way more even, or possibly slightly skewed toward Marks.
Jadeveon Clowney is in the house!
This absolutely fits in the category of “pleasant surprise,” and it almost counts as TWO surprises. First, there is the fact that the Texans signed Clowney to begin with. Strengthening the depth of the defensive line was an underrated issue on this team, and Clowney was easily the best name out there, but I never thought we’d see him back here. Second, in three practices so far, Clowney has looked every bit the impactful player who was traded away from here in 2019, which is a mild surprise, given that he is 33 years old.
