Expert Urges Texans to Draft Two Enticing Prospects

The Houston Texans have gone into this offseason making a ton of adjustments on their offensive line by bringing in new guys, shipping out old ones, effectively setting up this unit in the trenches to look extremely different from their 2024 season that many would likely prefer to forget.

However, while the Texans brass has stayed busy in changing up what this group looks like for the season ahead, Houston might still have more work to do to get this unit truly improved to a confident level for the coming season.

As a result, that makes this coming draft is a critical time to implement those necessary pieces. The Texans hold four picks in the top 100 of next month's draft, potentially making for multiple opportunities down the board to tackle those concerns.

In the mind of Pro Football Focus analyst Jordan Plocher, there could be two tantalizing names Houston could keep an eye on in the early rounds of this draft to mesh well in the Texans' current situation at hand: Texas tackle Kelvin Banks and Sacramento State guard Jackson Slate.

"The addition of Cam Robinson shouldn’t stop the Texans from getting younger at left tackle," Plocher wrote. "Banks posted an 89.9 pass-blocking grade in 2024 and has the versatility to begin his NFL career at guard if needed. For a later-round option, Jackson Slater is a small-school guard who could help keep C.J. Stroud upright—he didn’t allow a single sack or quarterback hit across 379 pass-blocking snaps in 2024."

Even with the Texans bringing in multiple veterans at both tackle and guard for next season, it's hard to discount the idea of Houston focusing heavily on those position groups early once they're on the clock in late April.

Such a strategy to secure both Banks and Slater could revitalize this line with a much-needed boost in youth and opportunity to grow in Houston's offense, both on the outside and interior. The duo would also add notably cheap talent to a position group that needs that help, offering favorable cap flexibility coming at an ideal time as C.J. Stroud's rookie extension looms in the distance.

Doubling down on the offensive line early in the draft is far from a move that will jump off the page in terms of flashiness, but it could be the best direction to turn to best suit this offense for the 2025 campaign ahead.

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