The Houston Texans have a lot of questions on the offensive side of the ball entering the 2025 season. Their offensive line struggled in 2024, which led to C.J. Stroud being the second-most sacked quarterback in the NFL. Plus, they lost Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell will be out indefinitely, meaning Houston will lean on rookies to complement Nico Collins.
Where Houston has almost no questions, though, is on defense, which is why Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report ranked them as a top five defense in the NFL.
"The Texans don’t have many defensive weaknesses on paper," Davenport writes. "In third-year pro Will Anderson Jr. and veteran Danielle Hunter, Houston has the NFL’s best edge-rusher duo. Houston’s defensive tackles aren’t great, but they’re solid. The linebacker corps led by Azeez Al-Shaair is as deep as any in the NFL and just added another experienced starter in free agency in E.J. Speed. The Texans also added a veteran playmaker in the secondary in safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who joins a group that includes cornerbacks Kamari Lassiter and Derek Stingley Jr. and safety Jalen Pitre. It was a relatively quiet draft for the Texans defensively, but third-round corner Jaylin Smith of USC offers depth at defensive back and a potential subpackage option."
Davenport adds that it was Houston's defense that won them the Wild Card game against the Chargers.
"It was the Texans defense that completely smothered the Los Angeles Chargers in Houston’s Wild Card Round last year. And if CJ Stroud and the offense holds up their end of the bargain, the Texans have the talent and depth defensively to make an even deeper postseason run."
While the defense has few questions, the offense needs to carry a bit more weight in 2025 if Houston wants to get past their recent ceiling of the divisional round.
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