Texans May Have Landed Another Starter on Their Offensive Line

With the Houston Texans' newest free agency signing of veteran offensive lineman Evan Brown, it might have just given the team another starter for their offensive front headed into the 2026 season.

Their first new starter entered earlier in the week with the addition of former Indianapolis Colts tackle Braden Smith, who was signed to a two-year $20 million deal to join Houston through the 2027 season and plug in as the Texans' starting right tackle for the foreseeable future.

Brown's deal is a bit different than Smith's. It's only signed on for one year as opposed to Smith's two, and it's at a much cheaper value of $3.5 million. Yet, that value, while team-friendly, could still be all it takes to provide the Texans with another starter on their offensive line for 2026.

Former #AZCardinals G Evan Brown, who was released late this week, lands quickly with the #Texans on a 1-year deal for up to $3.5M, per The Insiders.

Deal negotiated by Sean Kiernan & Tommy Povinelli from @AthletesFirst. pic.twitter.com/CUjxQO65Aq
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2026

Now, there's certainly no guarantee that Brown will be slotted into a starting spot on the Texans' offensive interior. With six months to go before Week One of next season, and still less than a week into the new league year, tons of time lies ahead for Houston to keep working on (and improving) their offensive line from its current form.

Especially once the Texans arrive at the draft, to see them walk out of those three days with one, and even two new offensive linemen, wouldn't be surprising. Four selections within the top 70 picks would give Houston tons of capital to add an injection of youth into their front line, if they so choose.

But with the current setup of Houston's depth chart, Brown's status to, at the very least, compete for a starting spot is looking well within reach.

Evan Brown Could Start on Texans' Offensive Line in 2026

Brown, listed as a 6'3", 320-pound veteran, has spent the last seven years as a bit of a journeyman around the league, being with six teams throughout that stretch. However, that's also come with a good bit of starting experience, as he's started in 68 career regular-season games since 2021.

With the Cardinals, Brown's started in every game he's been active for for 28 games across the past two years, starting in 11 contests across 2025, and missing the last six games of the regular season due to personal reasons.

Brown has also been a versatile piece on the interior throughout his time in the NFL. Through the past four seasons, the Texans' newest lineman has had stints starting at not only left guard, but center and right guard as well.

The past two years in Arizona, Brown was running most of his time at left guard, which likely shows Houston's intentions headed into 2026, but leaves the door open for other options.

Sep 25, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Evan Brown (63) against the Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

So, Brown is more than capable of being a starting-level guard in the NFL, and has also shown to line up at multiple positions on the interior. However, he's not quite an extremely consistent guy relative to others at his position–– that being left guard.

PFF graded him as the 61st-best guard (54.3) across last season among 81 eligible players, and nearly a bottom-10 graded guard in terms of run-blocking grade (49.0).

That means, while Houston could fill in Brown as a serviceable starter on the interior without any other moves, the Texans are likely to continue poking around for more upgrades, and potentially find another name in the draft or late in free agency to compete with the former Cardinals veteran for that left guard/center spot.

Houston has the 28th overall pick in the first round of the draft, paired with two second round picks at both 38 at 59, along with a third rounder at 69. That creates ample flexibility for Houston to draft a high-end interior guard or center prospect at multiple slots, and thus compete with the veterans Brown and Jake Andrews for those starting spots in 2026.

For now, Brown, or third-year guard Jarrett Patterson, stands out as the most likely starting option for the Texans to lean on at left guard for next season. So at just $3.5 million, getting a starting-level guy upfront for that price makes for yet another wise investment on paper for Nick Caserio to kick off this offseason.

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