Nick Martin, left, a holdover on the offensive line, will try to help lift Deshaun Watson and the Texans. Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Here we go! The position group everyone wants to talk about. The Texans are only going to go as far as these guys will let them. The running game has to improve. The pass protection has to improve. It’s just the facts. The Texans were the worst offensive line in 2017 and without picks in the first two rounds of the draft they had to make some moves in the offseason.
The new players brought in to help up front are guard Zach Fulton, a free agent from the Kansas City Chiefs. Tackle Seantrel Henderson from the Buffalo Bills and guard Senio Kelemete from the New Orleans Saints. These three acquisitions were the first big steps taken to prove that the o-line was going to be better this season.
Kelemete and Fulton started the most games last season but neither were full-time. Seantrel Henderson has been a bit of a disappointment. He battles Crohn’s disease and has been suspended more than once for marijuana use. He was once a highly touted prospect and a top-rated NFL rookie at right tackle for Buffalo. He’s coming to Houston in hopes of reviving his career and boosting a troubled line.
Adding two guards isn’t the sexiest upgrade to the front five, but it may prove to be better than it looks. The Texans have a quarterback who understands how to move in the pocket and avoid pressure. Deshaun Watson can help the pass protection by being himself. But solidifying the interior line along with returning center Nick Martin will give the running backs some extra push they didn’t have last year. Get better yards in the run game, you keep the offense from being one-dimensional.
Big guys get hurt though so there are plenty of backups on the roster fighting for what should be a reserve role. That means that returning guards Greg Mancz, Chad Slade and Kyle Fuller will have to show they belong against newcomers Anthony Coyle and Mason Gentry. This camp is also another chance for David Quessenberry to get his career back on track after recovering from cancer.
On the outside, the Texans have a lot of fresh faces. In addition to Seantrel Henderson, GM Brian Gaine has brought in Roderick Johnson, who was with the Browns organization last year; Jaryd Jones-Smith and third-round pick Martinas Rankin from Mississippi State.
Those four will make a push for playing time against returning tackles Kendall Lamm and Julie’n Davenport. Most analysts are expecting Davenport to start the season at left tackle protecting Watson’s blindside. He was considered a work in progress when he was taken in the 4th round last year and had his feet put to the fire during his rookie season. He is a big guy at 6’7” 320 lbs, but needed work on his technique. Hopefully he’s done that this offseason and is ready to take over the spot that Duane Brown held for so long.
Tackle will be intense during camp because the battle between Henderson and rookie Martinas Rankin at right tackle could go either way. There’s also the possibility that Rankins is the future at left tackle. It might be a pretty open competition with some big ups and downs between now and September. After a forgettable 2017, this group has to look and play a lot better if the Texans want to compete in a tough division.
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There's no denying that this year's World Series champs (LA Dodgers) have some serious firepower on their roster. And one of the ways they were able to assemble such a talented team involved players like Shohei Ohtani being willing to differ their money.
Just this week, there was some speculation that the Yankees could do something similar when restructuring Gerrit Cole's contract, that would allow them more flexibility in the present.
The Yankees ended up calling Cole's bluff about opting out, and no adjustment was made to the contract.
But this situation got us thinking, would the Astros consider a tactic like this to maximize the roster? At this point, it doesn't seem all that likely. Just last year, the team handed out a $95 million contract to Josh Hader, without any differed money.
The other factor that also has to come into play is the tax threshold. The organization would have to give the okay to go over it again in order to make a splash signing this offseason. Which unfortunately does not sound like the plan right now when listening to GM Dana Brown at the Winter Meetings.
Astros pitcher hires a new agent
Now that MLB free agency is in full swing, most of the attention moving forward will be focused on players like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
But for Astros fans, there might be someone else to keep an eye on this offseason and next. Starting pitcher Hunter Brown quietly hired super agent Scott Boras recently.
With Brown still another season away from his first year of arbitration, he should be with the Astros for the foreseeable future.
However, the hiring of Boras does raise some interesting questions. Why make the move now? Certainly, Brown could use some more cash, as he's set to make less than a million in 2025.
Perhaps Brown wants to land some HEB commercials to fatten his wallet. And if Bregman does leave the team in free agency, a spot will open up for another player, in theory. And three of the players in the HEB ads are represented by Boras (Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers Jr. and Bregman).
Jeremy Pena has been stacking cash from Taquerias Arandas for several years now, maybe Brown would like an opportunity to do an endorsement similar to that.
I say all this half kidding, but Brown does look like the future ace of this staff, and I'm sure there are plenty of advertisers that would have interest in Hunter.
There is another element that could have initiated the hiring of Boras. Would Brown be willing to sign an extension early with the Astros similar to the deal the team made with Cristian Javier?
Their situations are actually pretty comparable, except Javier was one year further into his career (3 years of MLB service time) and eligible for arbitration before agreeing to the extension.
If Brown was heading into arbitration this offseason, it wouldn't be surprising at all for the Astros to be considering a long-term deal with him that buys up all his arbitration years. The 'Stros love these types of contract extensions. We've seen them do it with Bregman, the aforementioned Javier, and others.
One of the main differences though between Brown and Javier is their rookie year numbers. Brown only pitched 20.1 innings in his first season (2022). While Javier pitched 54.1 innings his rookie year. However, his rookie season was in 2020, so Javier completed a full year of service time despite the shortened season. Whereas Brown didn't get called up until September 2022.
Another difference is performance. Javier never posted an ERA over 3.55 in his first three seasons. As opposed to Brown, who had a disastrous year in 2023. He made 29 starts, recording an ERA over 5.
It wasn't until May of 2024 that Brown started using his two-seam fastball with great success and becoming one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League.
The Astros had a bigger sample size to judge Javier. However, if Brown has another quality season in 2025, Houston and Brown should definitely be having conversations about an extension. Especially with Framber Valdez being in the final year of his contract in 2025. Hunter could be the unquestioned ace one year from now.
Still, though, there are some concerns with handing out these early extensions. For example, if the Astros had it to do over again, would they still extend Javier?
After receiving his extension before the 2023 season, he went on to post the highest ERA of his career (4.56), and then blew out his elbow in May 2024.
And if we're going by Luis Garcia's recovery timeline from Tommy John surgery, we may not see Javier pitch at all in 2025.
So even with a sample size of three terrific seasons, the Javier extension looks like a miss with the benefit of hindsight. It will be interesting to see if that deal impacts Dana Brown's decision-making going forward.
Especially since Javier was Dana's first big contract extension as the Astros GM.
Be sure to watch the video as we discuss how the Astros can get the most out of their roster, the pros and cons of signing Hunter Brown early, and much more!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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