Texans’ Defensive Rebuild Drawing Optimism While Youth Shines

It was a rough, brief start to C.J. Stroud’s career, but Houston’s stable of young players have impressed during the early goings of training camp.

I caught the Texans while they were in Foxborough—Houston and New England are the 17th and 18th teams I’ve seen this summer—for their preseason opener. The game itself, not so interesting. But the team in Houston, for the first time in a little while, should be …

• C.J. Stroud had a handful of “welcome to the NFL” moments Thursday. After the Texans churned out a first down on their first three plays, Stroud was sacked, chased from the pocket, then threw a pick on the game’s second third down—the interception coming on a throw that was late enough for safety Jalen Mills to get to it. On their next drive, the Texans essentially went three-and-out twice (a very shaky roughing penalty moved the chains in between those sequences). Now, Houston was playing with just two starting linemen, one of whom is a rookie (center Juice Scruggs) and is putting in a new system under coordinator Bobby Slowik. For his part, Stroud seemed to doubt what he was seeing, leading to a slower trigger, and will have to grow through that. The good news is the staff felt like he just had his best week, and, at least in practice, has gotten more natural calling plays in the huddle and leading from the line while thinking a little less in the line of fire. The next challenge for him will be translating that onto the game field.

Anderson, the third pick in the draft, will look to make an impact on a defense that allowed the third-most yards per game last year.

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• As for the Texans’ other first-round pick, Will Anderson Jr. has been everything the Texans have wanted from a football makeup standpoint. The questions about his ceiling coming out, of course, are real—he’s not the first Crimson Tide star to be tagged as being “maxed out” coming out of school. But what everyone seems certain about is whatever potential he has as a player, he’s going to find a way to maximize it. And two weeks into training camp, it sure looks like he’s in the right scheme to do that, with the Texans playing their ends in the old wide-nine spots from Jim Schwartz’s scheme, which coach DeMeco Ryans is bringing with him from San Francisco (he’s got defensive coordinator Matt Burke, who’s worked with respected 49ers DL coach Kris Kocurek in the past). My guess, and the Texans’ feeling, too, is all that adds up to Anderson’s assimilating quickly to the league.

• The safety spot should be a legit strength for Houston. Jalen Pitre has followed a stellar rookie year with a really strong camp and is poised to take another big step. And Ryans brought Jimmie Ward over from the 49ers, and he’s had an immediate stabilizing effect on the defensive backfield. Add rising star Derek Stingley Jr. and solid, savvy veteran Steven Nelson at corner, and you have the makings of a really nice secondary.

• You can sense the coaches’ optimism, in general, over the defense. The offense, I think, is a little more wait-and-see, and it’s not just at quarterback. The line needs a few things to happen. One, it needs Scruggs to assert himself for the center job—something I believe is in the process of happening. Two, it needs right tackle Tytus Howard to get healthy and Laremy Tunsil to stay healthy. Three, it needs Shaq Mason to hold off Father Time. If those three things happen, all the investments Houston’s made in its front will make things a lot easier on the rookie quarterback.

• Finally, we have a couple more rookies to keep an eye on. One is third-round pick Tank Dell. The Houston product was a stick of dynamite against the Patriots, exploding for a 24-yard catch-and-run, then making a spectacular concentration catch (he caught it off a bounce, while keeping an errant leg inbounds for a touchdown). He finished the night with five catches for 65 yards, and that debut is, in fact, an illustration of the kind of camp he’s had. The other rookie is Henry To’oTo’o, another Alabama product whose instincts and smarts have stuck out and helped the fifth-round pick play above his athletic ability. I wouldn’t be surprised if both of these guys are significant contributors in Year 1.