Are the Texans Any Good Along the Offensive Line?

is the Texans offensive line any good well Pro Football Focus doesn't seem to think so and I vehemently disagree where exactly are we on the Texans offensive line and what to make of the situation right now what can this offensive line be and why some of these lists and rankings just don't make any sense whatsoever let's talk about this Texans offensive line and where it is as an offensive line as we approach training camp which is about two weeks away from getting going let's start with the best situation that they have on the offensive line and work our way through the left guard spot to be honest with you at left tackle they've got laremy tunel okay he's one of the best left tackles in all the football is he the best no can he on any given week be the best left tackle in football sure even Trent Williams has an iffy week here or there Trent Williams is the best tonsil to me is not quite Trent Williams but he's really darn close and he is one of the best left tackles in football one of the best tackles in football there's some really good guys over on the right side across the league but Tel's in the conversation of being one of the best and last year he was a really solid player despite playing through injury if the knee is cleaned up and he's 100% healthy the Texans should have an elite lock down left tackle and not have to worry about that position unless tunel gets banged up and has to miss time that's the only way you would worry about the left tackle spot laremy tonsil playing and healthy is a no worry situation for the Houston Texans now let's go to Right Guard which is the situation that I feel best about after left tackle that's led by Shaq Mason amongst guards who played most of the season last year okay amongst guards who played 80% of the Season or more sha Mason was one of the 12 best guards in football according to Pro Football Focus he was 12th and overall offense in their blocking stat he was seventh in their run blocking and he was 14th in their pass blocking statistic so sha Mason one of the best guards in football by the stats of Pro Football Focus I'm not going to sit here and get down on the intricacies and the intimacy of offensive line play that's not for me to do that's for the o line experts the former players to take care of the Pro Football Focus those numbers don't mean um everything but they certainly don't mean nothing as well is sha Mason the 12th best guard in football no but can you make a solid argument and a sound argument he's one of the 20 best guards in football when you think about there being 64 starters every week at the guard position is Mason one of the 20 best sure I'll give you that I feel like that's a pretty sound and safe place to put sha Mason started out kind of slow last year got going leveled off to a really nice level of play at Right Guard for the Texans and he's kind of actually compensated and paid right around where he ended up on that Pro Football Focus ranking which is something that I gota imagine looks good now for Nick cerio when people like your truly were not sure that that contract for sha Mason made a whole heck of a lot of sense when he got that contract extension with the Texans now let's jump to right tackle and you're like Cody right tackle really Titus Howard coming off of the significant knee injury that cost him the end of the season Titus Howard who's always banged up yeah I get it but when Titus Howard plays and is healthy at right tackle and I feel like a lot of people's issues with the Texans in 2023 they pay attention to left guard Titus Howard and offensive lines that had left guard Titus Howard that was far from their best alignment okay but Titus Howard at right tackle when healthy he's an average right tackle okay Pro Football Focus 222 Titus Howard at right tackle about the 30th 34th 36th right tackle in most the rankings okay or tackle in most of the rankings excuse me not just right tackle but tackle in most of the rankings in again 64 starters if you come in right in the middle of the 30s you're about League average that's what Titus Howard has been at right tackle he's had moments where he's looked really really good at tackle that's got to be more consistent that's why the Texans paid him they believe that consistency is going to be there am I Keen that that consistency is going to be there no I don't truly believe that every single week the Texans are going to have lock down tackle situations but can Titus Howard play better than he did in 2022 can he stay healthy and over the course of a season really kind of raise that profile that he has I absolutely do believe that is possible some cohesion playing with the same offensive line playing at the actual position that he's supposed to play I Feel Like Titus Howard can settle in and at the very least he's a League average right tackle and at best he is going to find himself increasing his profile at the right Tackle Spot one of the high paid right tackles in all of football then I'm going to go to the center spot here for this Texans team juice Scruggs is going to be the center to me it feels like he's going to be the center they were ready to hand the center spot to ju Scruggs last year after the injury to Scott quesenberry and then ju Scruggs himself got injured in the preseason and it led to the rotating cast of centers Jared Patterson ultimately uh solidified that and played pretty well um do I believe he's going to come in and beat out Scruggs no I don't because a healthy scrubs to me feels like he's going to be the starter at Center again the Texans were confident in him last year as a rookie and with getting his feet wet at left guard though the results weren't great I've cited Pro Football Focus the numbers were not kind to juice Scruggs at left guard not his position remember he practiced primarily at Center in training camp got hurt came off the injury it took longer than expected for him to get back and then as soon as he was back he was playing left guard not center for the Tex at Center I believe he can settle down provide an average level of play at the center spot a minute here for my friends in Platinum AC and heating my guy Dwayne is an allpro when it comes to taking care of air conditioners Five star rated by the Better Business Bureau Five star rated on Google and on Yelp Dwayne at Platinum AC and heating will take care of your AC situation from repairs to Replacements to tuneups to make sure the AC is blowing its coldest and running efficiently Dwayne at Platinum AC and heating can do it all if you own a business he can take care of your businesses HVAC if you own housing units he can handle all of that to Decades of experience has led to him having the best service in town along with the best prices in town give Dwayne a call today 83277 3683 832 77736 83 Dwayne ain't going to let you sit in a hot house so if you need AC help you need Platinum AC and heating now that takes us to the left guard spot which is the spot that I don't know exactly what the Texans are going to get I believe they've got enough options to figure it out at left guard Ken Yun green with his transformed body that looked better in OTAs and looked better in mini camp he feels to me having been a former firstr round pick having that level of talent that got him that first round selection feels to me like he's going to be the guy that's got the initial inside track to the left guard spot if he can't settle it down and be a good left guard in training camp in the preseason then he's gonna have plenty of contenders for that spot the two biggest contenders Jared Patterson who I don't believe is gonna be the center for this team and Kendrick green who if you remember played pretty decently last year at left guard prior to his injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers uh which ultimately ended his season so Kenyan green to me gets the first crack at being the starting left guard and if he plays up to the potential of what he was supposed to be which was a ready from day one left guard which he's not showcased hardly any of that in the NFL if he plays up to that potential then the Texans have a chance to have a really nasty level of play on that offensive line even if he could just get to average which again he hasn't shown a ton at the NFL level even if he could just get to average the left guard spot would be something that you don't feel terrible about if you could say you know top five at the position at left tackle top you know 10 at the right Tackle Spot top eight at the Right Guard spot and then average at the other two spots that offensive line could really come together and be something that's fairly impressive over the course of the Season remember it's most of these guys second year in the system it was a new system for them to learn it was a new system for offensive line coach Chris ster to teach last year and all of those things get to build on itself and they're bringing back a lot of those guys Patterson played in the system last year Kendrick green played in the system last year obviously tonsil did obviously sha Mason did obviously Titus Howard did though was at left guard but he was in the offensive line meetings he knew what the right tackle like that knowledge being built into the offensive line gives them a pretty solid base to start from now they've got to be much better than they were last year Pro Football Focus said they finished up at about 15th and they had I think you know 10 11 different starters start over the course of the season along the offensive line and heck a lot of those were at left tackle because they had some of those issues when tunel wasn't there but if they could be say the 12th best offensive line with an increased ability to help run the football and an even better passing game ver courtesy of CJ strad in his second year the wide receivers that were on the team last year in their second year the addition of Stefan Diggs and Joe Mixon you know Joe Mixon in the rushing game and the passing game they could be a really solid offensive line and they wouldn't have to be one of the best offensive lines in football what's their ceiling I mean their ceiling's probably something like a top eight ceiling now that's if tunel is still Ary tunel which no reason to believe he's not going to be and that's if Titus Howard is going to take the next step and turn into a good right tackle more so than an average right tackle like he has been up to this point in his career and then you need Kenyan green and Juice Scruggs to play to their draft slot and play to the level of the the level of trust that the Texans had in them remember they were gonna let Kenyan green take over that left guard spot basically right away and then he's kind of banged up and once he got in there it didn't look great and same with Scruggs they were gonna let Scruggs take over that Center spot right away the Texans trusted those players and if they could trust them and get that trust to pay off that offensive line could be in a really good situation and a really good spot to succeed and help this team really take care of business in 2024 now that's where I am on the offensive line now that didn't sound like they were the best offensive line in the AFC but it certainly should have sounded to you like they were less than say fifth or sixth in the AFC less than you know 15th or 16th in the NFL but Pro Football Focus my goodness look at this list look at where they have the Texans or more specifically look at where the Texans aren't which is in the top 10 now I want to quickly go through the teams that I have no issue being ahead of the Houston Texans the Indianapolis Colts they've spent a ton over the years in that offensive line it's a really good offensive line they were banged up a bunch last year healthy they should be a formidable offensive line same with the Cleveland Browns hurt a bunch last year if healthy they've invested a ton they should be a formidable offensive line Kansas City chief set for four no issues there they might have the best left guard Center Right Guard Trio in all of football and if not the best certainly one of the best in their tackle situation it could get better but it could be a whole heck of a lot worse as well and if you wanted to put the Chargers ahead of the Texans I'd listen okay they're replacing a cther who retired and Joe Al is a rookie but Joe Al supposed to be kind of the most plug-and-play tackle that we've seen in recent memory ran Slater is a really nice player for them along the offensive line so if you want of the Chargers because they've got some talent and Jim Harbaugh is their coach if you wanted to say they were better than the Houston Texans when it comes to the AFC I'll listen I'll have that conversation with you but some of these teams it's an atrocity that they're ahead of the Texans in this ranking by zultan budy as you see there uh at the bottom um and that's the author of this the story on Pro Football Focus and ironically the author of end of season rankings where the Texans ranked 15th and then they ended up ranking 22nd in this most recent rankings questionable speaking of those in the season rankings the Jets who were on this list at three were 31 at the end of last year and they got a lot of benefit because one of their best players Elijah verit Tucker was hurt most of last year and is now going to be healthy and back in the lineup uh for this offensive line for the Jets they went and added Tyron Smith who is really really good when he plays but had some injury concerns and they added Morgan Moses who got just jettisoned off his previous team and the Jets are acting like you know they added pan Su over there at right tackle and so is the author third for the Jets and look I like Joe tippman the center from uh Wisconson he's a nice enough player Elijah ver Tucker's obviously very good but Tyron Smith can't stay healthy Morgan Moses isn't any good uh they drafted a kid who I'm not sure is going to be able to play on the offensive line right away in the first rounds I don't get it with the Jets I don't believe they've got a better situation than the Texans right now the Buffalo Bills Deon Dawkins is a nice player he's not better than lar tunel and then the rest of their offensive line is I mean maybe I'm missing something maybe some of those guys are better than I give them credit but don't get it with the bills the Steelers are ahead with two rookies set to start in their lineup a rookie at guard and a rookie at Center that's right the Steelers are ranked ahead of the Houston Texans with a first first round pick from this year and a second round pick from this year set to start in their offensive line yeah I don't get it either okay doesn't make a lot of sense there the Broncos stick Mike mcglinch is not very good at right tackle he's vastly overpaid Garrett bus is decidedly fine at left tackle but he's far from what laramy tunel brings to the table they've had some guys move on there on the interior of the offensive line it's not very good in Denver it's absolute joke that they're ahead of the Texans the Dolphins one Teran Armstead is not better than laramy tunel uh their right tackle is okay probably better than tius Howard uh and then the interior of the offensive line is a bit of a disaster okay that's not a very good offensive line in Miami I don't get this if you talk to dolphins fans they would probably tell you they would probably tell you that this doesn't make sense and they're worried about the offensive line and the Raiders don't get me started on that dumpster fire there's like three good players on the Raiders none of them are on the offensive line okay it's an absolute joke the Texans aren't in the top 10 of a FC offensive lineman again we laid it out one of the best left tackles in football a top 20 Right Guard an average right tackle and then there's some hopefulness to Center and left guard and you gotta hope and hope that that turns out your way if you're the Texans but that's a lot better than a lot of these teams that we just went through okay a whole heck of a lot better than some of these teams so I don't get the Pro Football Focus ranking and I use some of their numbers kind of against them to demonstrate just good the situation is for the Texans compared to some of these teams we've talked a lot about lar me tonsil and how good he is I want to bring up a uh article by Jim cerr I believe is the author's name Jim cerr wrote an article ranking the excuse me Jeff Kerr Jeff Kerr wrote an article ranking the 20 best offensive tackles in football in 2024 now in 20123 laremy tonson was number three on his list okay in 2023 ly tonsil was number three all right I talked about it at the beginning of this video I believe tonsil is somewhere between maybe the second best left tackle to the fourth best left tackle certainly one of the better tackles overall in all the football so he was third on the list last year played through injury was still good last year let me show you where uh old uh Jeffrey ended up with lar me tonson so Trent Williams no argument there number one you want to make that argument uh against Trent Williams be my gu I'm not going to listen to it he's a monster okay he's a monster Texans probably should have traded for him back in the day instead of ly tunel wouldn't have cost as much pan Su for the Detroit Lions sure one of the best tackles in football can get it done could play left tackle could play right tackle and he he's awesome just doesn't allow sacks doesn't allow pressure he's nasty now Tyron Smith's a great player he's a future Hall of Famer he's one of the most incredible freaky tackles to ever play football in the National Football League he just isn't help he doesn't play as much as you would want him to and even when he does play the level is kind of uh it's kind of dipped down I know he played a little bit more last year but you know he's he's up there in age he constantly is hurt I don't get it Lane Johnson okay like again you want to say Lane Johnson and penu and Trent Williams are ahead fine I don't agree with Tyron Smith all right I don't agree with Tristan wors had a tough time adjusting a left tackle wasn't as good at left tackle right away as as I'm sure the Buccaneers hoped he would be Jordan Milada mean a couple of years of success is is is erasing a uh you know half a decade worth of elite play from laramy tunel I don't understand that Taran armon's old gets hurt don't get it Andrew Thomas I mean how many times have you felt like the the Giants have had good tackle play and I get that that Thomas is a young stud but you know he's been hurt a little bit the consistency is not there Christian darasa now we're just it's just a joke Braden Smith come on I mean those guys being ahead of laremy tunel it's just an absolute joke Tel's still very good um and still has great play in him and this actually works out to the Texans big Advantage because I know what a lot of people are going to say about laramy tunel they're gonna say hey is he gonna be motivated he got the big money is he gonna come back and this stems from when he got hurt a couple of years ago hurt his hand and then never came back for the rest of the season that was the dumpster fire of a season I don't blame him uh though you would like to have a guy more bought in and hunel has always been bought in when there's a chance for monetary gain and he wants accolades okay this worked out great for the Texans because lar me tunel his pinned tweet on Twitter Jeff curan and he wrote the little put the little writing emoji put the little writing emoji so Tel's out there to prove he is not the 11th best tackle in football and that's great news for the Houston Texans because they need him to be one of the best tackles in football they need his teammates to get a lot better and that offensive line overall needs to get a whole heck of a lot better so that's where we are on the offensive line well that's where I am on the offensive line where are you on the offensive line let me know in the comments section down below and I will be happy to interact with you after you get in the comments section let me know where you are on the offensive line where's your biggest worry where you not worried about this offensive line you know what you don't have to worry about if you call Platinum AC and heating is your air conditioner that's right Platinum AC and heating has the best service and the best prices in town when it comes to servicing your air conditioner my guy Dwayne will take care of your AC needs from repairs to Replacements to that little checkup to make sure the AC is running its best not costing you money blowing the coldest air and letting you keep your cold hard cash in your pocket and let you chill out in the AC Dwayne can get that tuneup setup for you and make sure that AC is in great shape for the hot summers give them a call today the numberers right there on the screen you don't want to miss out on the best service and best prices in town when it comes to platinum AC and heating all right what say you let me know in the comments section check out Platinum AC and heating you can see them in the description down below as well and thr me a thumbs up on the video subscribe to the channel if you haven't already appreciate you watching hope you enjoyed the video and I can't wait until we talk Texans again soon

Channel: Cody Stoots

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Keywords: Houston, Texans, Houston Texans, NFL, NFL News, NFL Updates, Football, Football News, Houston Sports, Sports, Houston Texans News, NFL News and Updates, Houston Texans Updates, Texans News, Texans Updates, NFL News Today, DeMeco Ryans, Ryans, CJ Stroud, Stroud, Nick Caserio, Caserio, Houston Football, AFC, AFC South, Tank Dell, Dell, Will Anderson, Cody Stoots, Stoots, Pro Football Talk, Pro Football Talk Rumors, Diggs, Stefon Diggs, PFF, Pro Football Focus, List, Rankings, OLine

Id: MtSM5pfDKsM

Length: 21min 15sec (1275 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 04 2024