A ton of moves leaves the offense stacked, defense reeling, and draft cupboard bare

Texans take shape after flurry of trades

Cody Stoots
Sep 1, 2019, 2:29 am
@nfltrade_rumors

The roster is starting to take shape but there are plenty of questions about the roster. Let's go through the day's moves, the prices paid, and what is left on this roster after the cuts.

The new anchor in town

Laremy Tunsil is an anchor for the Texans. He is either going to anchor the left side of the line or take the Texans to the bottom with him including Bill O'Brien's career with the Texans.

Tunsil was the 35th best player at the Pro Football Focus pass blocking stat. He was the 17th best tackle in that stat. He was better than fellow AFC South tackle Taylor Lewan, Eagles standouts Lane Johnson and Jason Peters, and former Patriots now Raiders tackle Trent Brown.

The offensive line is now potentially set at three positions for years to come. Tunsil will likely get a new deal from the Texans in about a year making him a fixture for years at left tackle. Tytus Howard and Max Scharping are the hopeful running mates for the next few years for Tunsil. Both will likely play guard this year but eventually I believe one will end up the right tackle on this team.

The commitment of the draft capitol will require smart signings and bargains as well as hopefully some development of younger players. There will be no opportunity to add high-end young talent with no firsts and missing a second. They have to nail backups and eventually new starters.

Matt Kalil does nothing for this team they should save the about $5 million by releasing him. Roderick Johnson should be the swing tackle. Greg Mancz, Zach Fulton, and Senio Kelemete are solid depth to go along with the starters.

Sticker price and then some

Laremy Tunsil cost the Texans a ton. There is NOT ONE SINGLE LEFT TACKLE in the NFL who had their team give up what the Texans gave up to get Tunsil. It was akin to the Khalil Mack deal the Bears offered to the Raiders to get Mack.

If the Texans approached this season with Matt Kalil they likely would have been spending the selection next year on an offensive lineman and getting Deshaun Watson some massages to help handle the beating. So, the 2020 first round pick shouldn't sting as much.

No, it isn't fun to miss on the first round for the next two years and the first two rounds in one of those years. No, it isn't fun to then have to pay that player a huge deal, likely top at his position, in one or two seasons. If it helps the Texans win more in 2019 or get further it is all worth it.

It is fun to be in "going for it" mode and to be settled at a position that has been unsettled for a long time for this team. The "going for it" teams have had success recently. The Rams, Patriots, and Bears have all had "going for it" pay off recently. The Chiefs made a "going for it" move with Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu as well. This is the era of going for it, especially with cheap or aging quarterbacks.

If it fails, O'Brien won't care

My above tweet explains why O'Brien can do this and would. He doesn't have to clean up the mess. He can leave or will be asked to leave.

And since there are only 32 of these general manager jobs, someone will want it and make the best of it.

Insurance and talent make Texans among deepest at WR

Kenny Stills wasn't the headline of the Texans deal with the Dolphins but he is a very nice addition to the roster. It was a little baffling the Texans cut down to four wide receivers but when Stills was in the deal it made a little more sense.

Over the past three seasons only 32 wideouts have had more yards than Stills. He ranks next to last in receptions among those players but sixth in yards per attempt and eighth in touchdowns.

He also only missed one game in that time. He brings Will Fuller insurance should the Texans deep threat get injured again.

The interesting part of the Stills addition is he has been one of the more outspoken players in the NFL when it comes the lack of support by the league in social issues. He has knelt for the anthem. He has called out Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for his contributions to the Trump campaigns. The Texans have never had a player quite like him, this is much larger than Duane Brown raising a fist.

The Texans have an argument now for the deepest wideout room in the league with DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, Kenny Stills, Keke Coutee, and DeAndre Carter.

Duke Johnson's new old teammate

Duke Johnson again is teammates with Carlos Hyde, just like last year in Cleveland. Johnson though is the main back while Hyde is his compliment. Make no mistake, Johnson should out-snap Hyde and if he doesn't the Texans are either seeing a resurgence or trying something that won't work.

The Texans traded a player who was getting cut in Martinas Rankin for a player who was getting cut in Carlos Hyde.

That is one thing to remember as Carlos Hyde is added to Duke Johnson, Buddy Howell, and Taiwan Jones. Hyde is not good anymore. He is serviceable and the Texans seem to trust him more than the rookies who were cut Saturday.

Hyde has been trending down for a few seasons. The Chiefs had no plans to keep him and the Browns couldn't get him going last year. The Jaguars used him sparingly. He is close to Alfred Blue than Lamar Miller but again, the trust of a veteran is seemingly key here.

As for Rankin, injuries and the Texans inability to find him a position last year put him so far behind he never caught up. The roster space isn't there to try to make it work for the former third round pick.

Crowded tight end room

All five Texans tight ends are on the roster as of Saturday night. That will not be the case for long. I still expect Kahale Warring to hit injured reserve with his concussion. Maybe with the designation to return. I also expect Jerell Adams could be moved for a late pick he's worthy of a 53-man spot. It isn't the worst idea to have him around in case Jordan Thomas continues to struggle.

And then there were two

Only J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus remain as pass rushers worth trusting on the Texans.

In 2015 when Mercilus had 12 sacks he didn't actually overlap with Clowney's production hardly at all. In fact, Clowney missed two of the three best games Mercilus played in and barely showed up in the box score on the other. Now, obviously Watt was incredible that year as well.

Mercilus has every reason to be successful this season. He will get more pass rush snaps, something the team limited last season for an inexplicable reason. He is also in a contract year. He looked great in the preseason so it could be fun to see what he can do in 2019.

The two players added from the Seahwaks aren't anything special and you can read more about them here. Brennan Scarlett is not a consistent pass rusher.

Hot seat: Mike Devlin

If the Texans can't succeed up front with this group, arguably the most talented and heaviest investment in the O'Brien era, they have to fire Mike Devlin the team's offensive line coach. He has underwhelmed as the coach and if he can't make this group work he isn't making anything work.

More first overall disappointment

David Carr was atrocious and didn't fit in with his teammates and took a beating. He left the team.

Mario Williams finished with 53 sacks in six seasons for the Texans but was never the regularly dominating player many expected with the first overall selection. He left in free agency for a huge Buffalo deal.

Jadeveon Clowney was shown the door. He wanted out as well, but only after the Texans made their desire to break up clear. He's just hitting his potential it would seem but the Texans didn't care. They saw themselves without Clowney.

Here's the dirty little secret: It is really hard to make things payoff and actually live up to the expectations of the first overall pick. There can be solid arguments to be made that the first overall pick has "failed" more than "succeeded" in the past 30 years.

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How Deshaun Watson's honeymoon is almost over in Houston

Composite image by Jack Brame.

There's an elephant in the room when it comes to the Houston Texans. No, it's not Bill O'Brien. He's the ominous black cloud that hoovers over the whole building. That cloud is like a slow moving weather system that's constantly dumping rain and flooding the city. Eventually, it'll pass, we'll rebuild and recover from it.

It's not even the McNair family. Cal and Janice are the building itself. It exists, but needs people around and operating it in order for it to fully function. Sure, it could use some work. After all, it's almost twenty years old and could probably use a facelift. It happens when buildings age and are only taken care of or held to minimal standards.

The elephant in the room is Deshaun Watson. More specifically, his progress as a franchise/superstar quarterback. I've heard different people talk about this in one way, shape, form or whatever. AJ and Fred covered it on ESPN Houston's The Blitz. My friend @itsDanielBsr tweeted it and brought it up as well. There were others who talked about this topic, but these were the two places I encountered it in which I could pay closer attention.

When it comes to Watson, most people believe he's a great talent. However, there is a growing sentiment that it's time for him to take the next step. Watson turned 25 on September 14. He signed his four-year extension about a week before his birthday. When you're getting paid like a top quarterback and people recognize you as one of the better young quarterbacks, there comes a time when you need to poop or get off the pot.

When calling Watson to the carpet, people will call O'Brien into question. O'Brien is a factor in holding Watson back some. He's been the play-caller his whole time here in Houston up until this year when he allegedly turned it over to Tim Kelly. We've all seen how that has gone. O'Brien is also the general manager that traded away Watson's top target in DeAndre Hopkins. These type of things can hinder a young quarterback's growth and development, but at what point do we stop blaming O'Brien and start looking at Watson?

Some will point to the offensive line as a key factor as to why Watson isn't progressing. We've seen him escape sacks and create plays out of thin air. But when is it time to call him to the carpet for not going through his reads and/or making a check-down? He often escapes sacks and looks downfield, but should he be looking to scramble more often? Should he be reading progressions better? These intimate details are answers we won't ever get, but we hope we can understand that Watson is making his reads and decisions the way he's supposed to.

Whether it's his big extension, his bumbling idiot of a head coach, his lack of protection, or his lack of weapons, fans will eventually stop giving Watson a pass. Del said it best on ESPN Houston's The Bench: When will people stop bringing up Clemson when talking about Watson's greatness? NFL quarterbacks have their college career talked about in their rookie seasons. After that, it's all about what have you done for me lately. I sincerely hope Watson realizes his tremendous potential. He's a star now and a superstar in the making. The one thing that he needs is the success on the field that will catapult him into the upper echelon of the other top talents at his position. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Pat Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Lamar Jackson all have either a league MVP award and/or a Super Bowl ring. If Watson is to be mentioned in that rarefied air, he needs to start taking the necessary steps. The clock is ticking and people are watching. Your move Deshaun.

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