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Texans Offensive Line

Khelar said:
I do think the oline is in a spot where it can be left relatively untouched this offseason. Tackle depth is probably the only thing I really see as a need.

Spend the resources this offseason building up this defense and finding one more skill position playmaker on offense
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It will all come down to who they can/will keep on the roster.
For e.g., say Jimmy Ward goes elsewhere for some reason or Denzel Perryman - suddenly those positions are a high priority. Sure, you can bring in another vet but you have to look at value against the/a guy you like in the draft.
Lots of variables at this point.
 
JB said:
Do you remember watching him early last year before he got hurt?
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It was pretty early in the year .... I look for opportunities to view all of the prognosticators' favorites as quickly as possible .... maybe not early enough last year. But .... I do feel he has had more than adequate time to redefine his, body, strength, and knowledge in this year .... if he has decided he wants to be a version of his best self !
 
justmy2cents said:
I too, have not seen him play enough .... but, I have always been full of .... opinions ! I watched him in about four games year before last .... always looking for linemen. Heavy, bad weight, not explosive, 21 reps, ummm .... non-exuberant .... maybe all due to an ankle - wouldn't be my guess !
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I thought he played well the 3 games before he got hurt.
 
justmy2cents said:
It was pretty early in the year .... I look for opportunities to view all of the prognosticators' favorites as quickly as possible .... maybe not early enough last year. But .... I do feel he has had more than adequate time to redefine his, body, strength, and knowledge in this year .... if he has decided he wants to be a version of his best self !
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The key is him getting totally healthy before they throw him out there
 
Texansphan said:
It will all come down to who they can/will keep on the roster.
For e.g., say Jimmy Ward goes elsewhere for some reason or Denzel Perryman - suddenly those positions are a high priority. Sure, you can bring in another vet but you have to look at value against the/a guy you like in the draft.
Lots of variables at this point.
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The entire starting oline is under contract for a few years outside of Deiter if you consider him a starter.
 
Number19 said:
Fant is also an ufa in 2024.
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Forgot about Fant but that’s because I don’t see him here long term. I’m talking Tunsil, Scruggs, Mason, Howard. Patterson and the two greens are under contract for a couple year and will likely fight it out for the guard spot
 
TexansBull said:
The offensive line was just cursed with injuries this year. I think they have added a good depth through the draft, trades and FA signings. Next year this position group should be healthy and be a position of strength for the team.
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OL coach is gonna earn his keep whipping this line into shape - you cannot let CJ keep get hits like last Sunday.
Sure, he is savvy moving about the pocket but the line is also there for a reason.
 
TexansBull said:
The offensive line was just cursed with injuries this year. I think they have added a good depth through the draft, trades and FA signings. Next year this position group should be healthy and be a position of strength for the team.
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We don’t know who will get hurt next year, either. Quality depth is what’s needed. Tunsil is playing on a bad knee because of a lack of depth, and I don’t agree with that. It has to be looked at from an attrition standpoint. They need to keep adding O linemen from the later rounds like Patterson every draft going forward.
 
Was browsing this thread and noticed some contract inconsistencies. So here's a list of all Texans offensive linemen's contract status, be they active or injured.

Laremy Tunsil - 2027 UFA
Tytus Howard - 2027 UFA
Juice Scruggs - 2027 UFA
Jarrett Patterson - 2027 UFA
Shaq Mason - 2027 UFA
Nick Broeker - 2027 UFA
Kenyon Green - 2026 UFA
Kilian Zierer - 2026 RFA
Kendrick Green - 2025 UFA
Michael Dieter - 2024 UFA
George Fant - 2024 UFA
Josh Jones - 2024 UFA
Charlie Heck - 2024 UFA
Scott Quessenberry - 2024 UFA
Jimmy Morrissey -2024 SFA
Jaylon Thomas - 2024 SFA
DJ Scaife - 2024 ERFA
Dieter Eiselen - 2024 ERFA
 
Seems strange to me, as much as we knock our OL, that PFF has us ranked at #12 going into week 13.

Does anyone have access to other ranking systems and how do we rank?

They comment : " While the Houston offensive line has been impressive this season, it struggled in pass protection against Jacksonville. The group gave up 21 pressures - including 3 sacks - on 46 dropkick and finished with the fourth-lowest pass-blocking efficiency rating in the NFL in Week 12. "

Go figure. Other teams must really be bad.
 
TexansBull said:
The offensive line was just cursed with injuries this year. I think they have added a good depth through the draft, trades and FA signings. Next year this position group should be healthy and be a position of strength for the team.
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They will be better if everybody comes back healthy and remains that way, with no new additions.

In all of my yrs of watching NFL football I've never seen a rash of injuries like this.

4 LG
3 Centers
1 RG
2 RT
2LT and Tunsil has been playing hurt most of the yr
 
Number19 said:
Seems strange to me, as much as we knock our OL, that PFF has us ranked at #12 going into week 13.
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It's totally nuts. I give credit to everyone involved. The coaches, the QB, but mainly the linemen for sucking it up and playing to the best of their capabilities. When we look back on the season, it likely to be the key to the success the Texans have.
 
Lucky said:
Nick has done yeoman's work in bringing in linemen from training camp on. It's staggering how many of those guys have been able to contribute.
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I will be the first to admit I had to Google yeoman.

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Lucky said:
It's totally nuts. I give credit to everyone involved. The coaches, the QB, but mainly the linemen for sucking it up and playing to the best of their capabilities. When we look back on the season, it likely to be the key to the success the Texans have.
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TexansBull said:
Have to give credit to Caserio for drafting depth, trading for depth and any FA signings.
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PFF also had a graph showing OL injuries. Most of the teams were grouped in the middle. A few teams off to the right indicating few injuries. All the way to the left, all by ourself, was the Texans. By far we have had the most injuries to our OL.
 
Lucky said:
Nick has done yeoman's work in bringing in linemen from training camp on. It's staggering how many of those guys have been able to contribute.
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Though I've been very critical of Casserio's 1st round picks in 2022, but he has certainly been a stellar performer in managing the Oline this year largely in part by scrambling in FA when Oline injuries occurred.
 
IDEXAN said:
Though I've been very critical of Casserio's 1st round picks in 2022, but he has certainly been a stellar performer in managing the Oline this year largely in part by scrambling in FA when Oline injuries occurred.
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That's why I think that Nick Caserio was drafting who he was told to draft at least the last two years.
 
Marcus said:
You remember saying that he had to nail this draft? I’d say he pretty much has.
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Of course it's way too early to hand out the final grade on the 2023 Draft, but on the basis of early results it's clearly potentially the most consequential Draft of the franchises history.
 
I don't see Caserio using day one or day two picks to select offensive line. I think he will do as he did before this season and bring in veterans who can step up and play as starters for a few games in a row hopefully allowing the starter to get back. I do think Dieter will probably be brought back.
Now if a Jarrett Patterson is in round 6, Nick may work a deal to get him.
 
I had to grab this Slowick quote from the Houston Chronicle article that someone posted:

“The No. 1 thing is this offensive line imposing its will. It is a banged-up group, now without one of its highest-paid players in Tytus Howard, who is out for the season with a knee injury.”

I get the feeling that Slowick doesn’t give two shites about a ZBS or Power Blocking Scheme….all he wants is his OL in either scheme to absolutely put their max effort in imposing their will on defenses so it opens the requisite holes to maximize the run games success. This success can’t rely on 3 or 4 of the 5…..it must have all 5 on board with this mindset.

I’m not going to get into naming players again, but I’m not a fan of finesse players on the offensive line. This group, like the DL and LB’ers have to possess the attitude that they will destroy the man in front of them and continue to find the next player who must be removed from the play. This is the attitude in your trench players that makes media types find nicknames to identify these units.
 
It is unfortunate that Howard is out for the season. But the bright side is we’ll get a good look at Juice Scruggs. I liked what I saw from him last week for being his first live action after being on IR. I hope he can be a foundational player on the OL going forward.

I don’t think Patterson’s injury timeline will make him eligible to return this season but I would’ve liked to see the two of them start games together this season.

The rash of injuries this season stinks, but on the bright side there will be quality depth and competition along the OL under contract going into next season.

Early idea of next season’s OL:

LT Tunsil
LG Green/Patterson/Scruggs depending on where they want Scruggs
C Scruggs/Patterson
RG Mason
RT Howard

I’d feel good about that starting OL. Even better if they could re-sign Fant to be the swing OT. But I think he’s earned a starting OT contract and opportunity somewhere and will be out of their price range. Re-sign Josh Jones or draft pick is likely the play here.
 
TheRealJoker said:
It is unfortunate that Howard is out for the season. But the bright side is we’ll get a good look at Juice Scruggs. I liked what I saw from him last week for being his first live action after being on IR. I hope he can be a foundational player on the OL going forward.

I don’t think Patterson’s injury timeline will make him eligible to return this season but I would’ve liked to see the two of them start games together this season.

The rash of injuries this season stinks, but on the bright side there will be quality depth and competition along the OL under contract going into next season.

Early idea of next season’s OL:

LT Tunsil
LG Green/Patterson/Scruggs depending on where they want Scruggs
C Scruggs/Patterson
RG Mason
RT Howard

I’d feel good about that starting OL. Even better if they could re-sign Fant to be the swing OT. But I think he’s earned a starting OT contract and opportunity somewhere and will be out of their price range. Re-sign Josh Jones or draft pick is likely the play here.
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But you know good and well that injury-wise that starting lineup never pans out. It never does. Year after year after year it’s the same thing.

I’ve reached the conclusion that my thinking about the offensive line has been all wrong. I used to think that the only way to create a good line, is to draft them early talent wise and then lock them down contract wise.

But what good has that accomplished? If you shell out all those big bucks for players like Tunsil and Howard, and then when they go down from injury, which is every damn year, and you plug in Joe Blo castoff from another team, and yet get basically the same level of play, you gotta ask yourself…”what in the fricken f***?”

In the trenches, what good is talent if you don’t give a sh!t? Slowick’s got it right.
 
OptimisticTexan said:
I had to grab this Slowick quote from the Houston Chronicle article that someone posted:

“The No. 1 thing is this offensive line imposing its will. It is a banged-up group, now without one of its highest-paid players in Tytus Howard, who is out for the season with a knee injury.”

I get the feeling that Slowick doesn’t give two shites about a ZBS or Power Blocking Scheme….all he wants is his OL in either scheme to absolutely put their max effort in imposing their will on defenses so it opens the requisite holes to maximize the run games success. This success can’t rely on 3 or 4 of the 5…..it must have all 5 on board with this mindset.

I’m not going to get into naming players again, but I’m not a fan of finesse players on the offensive line. This group, like the DL and LB’ers have to possess the attitude that they will destroy the man in front of them and continue to find the next player who must be removed from the play. This is the attitude in your trench players that makes media types find nicknames to identify these units.
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If Slovak wants an offensive line to impose their will on defense , he needs to go out and get one. This one sure isn't it nor are any of our other injured players.
 
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Rewatched the 1st quarter of the Bronco game slow motion and stop motion, watching the OL. Painful to watch. I guess there's a blocking scheme at the bottom of this mess, but I couldn't discern it.

Who would have responsibility? Slowik or Chris Strausser, offensive line coach. Our designed run plays and blocking scheme may be more at fault for lack of a run game, than it is the players.
 
I am really upset with this offensive line. I have made excuses and hoped for the 2024 season to offer better if allowed to play their positions and 100% healthy. I've said Tunsil gets paid to protect QB but he hasn't this season. I've insisted Caserio will not move him but a post June 1st trade leaves dead cap of $7.5 million and $18.4 million savings. We would have to use our draft pick(s) to get a replacement or in a trade. Do we allow Stroud to be protected by a rookie? Tunsil isn't doing what I want in that regard. I hope I am over reacting.
 
According to Pff Offensive Line Rankings:
11. HOUSTON TEXANS (DOWN 1)
Projected Week 16 starters:
LT Laremy Tunsil
LG Juice Scruggs
C Michael Deiter
RG Shaq Mason
RT Charlie Heck

  • The Texans were without right tackle George Fant against the Titans. Fant was inactive due to an illness and a hip injury, and Charlie Heck replaced him.
  • Despite the injuries, the Texans' offensive line played relatively well, especially in pass protection. The unit surrendered just nine total pressures — albeit two were sacks — on 40 pass plays.
Best player: Laremy Tunsil
  • Tunsil has earned an 83.6 pass-blocking grade since Week 5, which ranks third among offensive tackles over that span.
 
Lucky said:
Do you think playing with a bad knee has something to do with his performance? Considering he sit out the majority of the season with a hangnail in 2021, I'm happy with Laremy's commitment.
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Well of course it does. But let's look beyond that and see if he is the left tackle that we need for the future. I am thoroughly enjoying this season, however we still need to prepare for the future. Is the knee going to continue to be an issue after 2023? I think it is. Here is a question, when Laremy allows Stroud to get racked up: does CJ
immediately think oh it's okay my left tackle has an knee injury.

Most say should we allow a rookie or second year guy to protect our franchise qb? Well how is our former pro bowler doing? He seems to be a pretty big risk to Stroud.
 
Just rewatched the Titan game, keying in on Scruggs. His play wasn't as bad, overall, as I initially thought. I have him flagged for 3 bad plays. Unfortunately, 2 were back to back in OT. At 5:45 he just totally whiffed in his attempt at blocking a DB on a screen pass. His block got the tackle for the loss. The next play, he gave up his second sack of the game. His first sack came at 12:58 in the 4th quarter.

Other than these 3 plays, he had a fairly good game. But giving up two sacks will earn you a PFF grade of 49.1 for pass blocking.

Sunday will be a good test. I think he'll be up against Shelby Harris, who has 2 sacks, 2 hits and 10 hurries.

Garrett, Smith, Hurst, Harris, Tomlinson, Okorankwo...have a combined 31 sacks, 40 hits and 145 hurries (if I counted correctly).

Whew, Case Keenum will be under pressure.
 
Number19 said:
Rewatched the 1st quarter of the Bronco game slow motion and stop motion, watching the OL. Painful to watch. I guess there's a blocking scheme at the bottom of this mess, but I couldn't discern it.

Who would have responsibility? Slowik or Chris Strausser, offensive line coach. Our designed run plays and blocking scheme may be more at fault for lack of a run game, than it is the players.
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Who’s calling the protection? Is everyone being picked up & there’s still a free rusher? Are our 5 lineman confused and leaving one of 4 pass rushers unblocke?
 
Lucky said:
Do you think playing with a bad knee has something to do with his performance? Considering he sit out the majority of the season with a hangnail in 2021, I'm happy with Laremy's commitment.
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Had no real reason to play. He knew they were tanking and the coaches did too. Now if we would’ve had a better team then, I believe he would’ve played.
 
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