It might be a red flag whenever those outside the Texans organization approve the line of thinking for the upcoming season.
It wasn’t that long ago when the Texans were criticized for trading a 2024 first-round draft pick to the Cardinals for the right to take edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. one spot after selecting quarterback C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 pick.
At the time, the ’23 QB class was viewed as subpar behind Bryce Young and the ’24 group, led by Caleb Williams, was all the rage. That might be one of my biggest pet peeves in football, bashing the current crop of QB prospects and putting too much stock in the next year’s class. We saw it for this year’s draft—Jaxson Dart looks pretty impressive to me. And we’re seeing it now, even though the 2026 signal-callers were supposed to be better than the ones drafted in April. (Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza is somehow being criticized for his postgame interview after beating Ohio State because it was a little too quirky or cringy.)
Anyway, the point is it worked out for Houston by selecting Stroud and Anderson with back-to-back picks two years ago and not waiting for the next year. And save the QB debates, because coach DeMeco Ryans can just watch Anderson on game days if he ever wonders what life would have been with Williams, Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye had Houston kept the pick it sent to Arizona and had a different 2023 offseason plan that would have gotten more approvals from outsiders.
Anderson had a monster hit on Patrick Mahomes on a pivotal fourth down in the fourth quarter and Stroud held his head high in the pocket despite constantly being swarmed by Chiefs defenders in a Sunday Night Football slugfest with plenty of playoff implications. The Texans are right where they need to be after a 20–10 signature victory at Arrowhead Stadium, putting them in a tie with the 8–5 Indianapolis Colts for the seventh seed in AFC.
Those who wrote off the Texans at 0–3 should have remembered how far they’ve come since those dark days before Ryans, Stroud and Anderson arrived. Not many agreed with the 2023 decisions, and there was more skepticism for the moves made this past offseason. Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil was traded to Washington in March, and Houston followed by loading up on skill players in April’s draft instead of offensive lineman. The team also hired offensive coordinator Nick Caley, a rookie play-caller in the NFL.
There wasn’t much patience for the moves made in the offseason because the wins and points weren’t coming from Stroud, who has been inconsistent since his sensational rookie year, but he continues to deliver when it’s mattered most. He recently returned from a three-game absence due to a concussion and guided his team to back-to-back wins against the Colts and Chiefs to extend the team’s winning streak to five games.
Stroud leaned on Nico Collins to set the tone in Kansas City, and when his offense had no counter adjustments for the Chiefs’ relentless defense in the third quarter, Houston’s signal-caller bravely kept standing tall in the pocket. Eventually, Stroud came through, making the most of coach Andy Reid’s failed fourth-down decision, throwing passes to rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. Rookie running back Woody Marks kept pushing against Kansas City’s stout defensive front and veteran Dare Ogunbowale closed a momentum-changing six-play, 31-yard drive with a five-yard go-ahead rushing touchdown with 6:56 left in regulation.
Stroud, who finished 15-of-31 for 203 yards and one touchdown, hasn’t been able to sustain a rhythm for long stretches the past two seasons, but he knows how to lean on his ideal surroundings. Instead of putting too much attention on all the Texans’ offensive moves, maybe we should have given this team the benefit of the doubt for building an elite defense, one that continues to get better in Year 3 under Ryans’s guidance.
Sometimes it requires a give-and-take approach to get the roster where it needs to be. Houston didn’t get the results it wanted when it went all in with Danielle Hunter, Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon in the 2024 offseason—moves that received plenty of fanfare. The Texans again got to the divisional round because Stroud did enough to brush off a sluggish second season, stepping up when it mattered most in the wild-card win over the Chargers (aided by four interceptions against Justin Herbert, admittedly)—I’m sensing a theme for Stroud.
Even though the Texans finished last year where they started in 2023, they knew more drastic changes were needed to become a real player in the loaded AFC. It’s taken time, and the offense is far from a finished product, but maybe for the first time, the Texans have the look of a Super Bowl contender in December—even as a No. 7 seed—because of a vaunted defense and a quarterback that delivers when it truly matters.
Houston’s trajectory changed on that day in April 2023, leading to two consecutive AFC South titles and divisional round appearances. In the three seasons before that, the Texans won a combined 11 games.
All the moves from the past three offseason are finally coming together for everyone to see. Just save the approvals.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Texans’ Offseason Moves Have Them Thinking Super Bowl.
