Even after a pretty fruitful free agency period, the 2023 Houston Texans still have a fair amount of holes to fill on their roster. You don’t just turn around a 3-13-1 outfit (11-28-1 over the last three seasons) in one free agency period. When you go to list the Texans’ needs in the draft, this is a team that is still closer to the answer being “everything” than being able to list a handful of specific needs.
However, this team is likely going to draft a young quarterback with the second overall pick in the April draft, so if we are prioritizing, filling holes on the offensive side of the ball should rule the day. To that end, there are no bad avenues to go with picks or further free agency spending. There are, however, three positions for which the team has had a brutal time trying to find capable solutions for nearly a decade, and thus, for the sanity of longtime fans, it would be nice to see these three spots resolved in 2023:
CENTER
LAST GOOD PLAYER: CHRIS MYERS, retired after 2014
After Myers retired from football following the 2014 season, Bill O’Brien’s first season as head coach, the Texans gave the center position to Ben Jones, who was barely average that season. To Jones’ credit, he became a much more solid player as a Tennessee Titan from 2016 through 2022. After Jones left in 2016, the Texans used a second round pick on Nick Martin out of Notre Dame, and he became one of the most overrated players in franchise history, getting an inexplicable second contract from Bill O’Brien in 2019. After Martin was released in 2021, the Texans cobbled together the position the last two seasons with a washed up Justin Britt, and an overmatched Scott Quessenberry.
SOLUTION at CENTER: Most of the big free agents at the center position have re-signed with their current teams, so free agency is unlikely to yield fruit. More likely, the Texans may have to use the 33rd overall pick on a young center like Minnesota’s John Michael Schmitz.
LEFT GUARD
LAST GOOD PLAYER: WADE SMITH, released after 2013
When Bill O’Brien arrived in 2014, the Texans let former Pro Bowler Wade Smith go in the offseason, and used the 33rd overall pick in the draft in 2014 on Xavier Su’a-Filo out of UCLA. Su’a-Filo proceeded to man the left guard position in a horrifically mediocre fashion for the next four seasons. In 2018, the Texans signed Senio Kelemete in free agency, and he was no good. They drafted Max Scharping, and he didn’t work out in 2019 or 2020. Along the way, they moved right tackle Tytus Howard to left guard from time to time, including most of 2021. Finally, in 2022, the team invested a first round pick in Texas A&M left guard Kenyon Green, who was among the worst interior offensive linemen in football last season.
SOLUTION at LEFT GUARD: With what’s invested in Green, one of the three first round picks the Texans received from Cleveland in the Deshaun Watson trade, the solution will likely be the anticipated development and improvement of Green under his second offensive line coach in two seasons. An offseason getting into adult football shape will help, too.
TIGHT END
LAST GOOD PLAYER: OWEN DANIELS, released after 2013
Since releasing Daniels after the 2013 season, the tight end position has been a depressing mix of failed third round draft picks (C.J. Fiedorowicz in 2014, Jordan Akins in 2018, Kahale Waiting in 2019) and journeyman caliber table scraps (everybody else). Rookie Teagan Quitoriano flashed some good stuff last season, but the position was still a net minus.
SOLUTION at TIGHT END: The Texan gave Dalton Schultz a one year deal in free agency. This was a solid signing that should give the rookie QB a solid security blanket. I could see the Texans using a second or third round pick on a tight end, as well.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
