Texans’ Offensive Line Upgrades Come With One Quiet Concern

At the very least, Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio deserves credit for being so dynamic and proactive about retooling the team's offensive line.

Somewhat of a hopeful consensus has emerged that the money spent on veteran blockers Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith will be well-allocated over the long run.

Adding grizzled, proven guys to the offensive line is never going to steer any general manager in the wrong direction. But if there's going to be a hole punctured through the ceiling of Caserio's grand plan, then it might be that some slightly bothersome injury history may resurface at just the wrong time.

Should Texans Be Worried About Health of Wyatt Teller, Braden Smith?

Teller, who's 31, and Smith, who's 30, each missed four games last season. Not a catastrophic amount, you might suggest, but if it were to happen again, issues would undoubtedly surface.

Teller's calf injury was a recurring problem that at times played him into merely a rotation role in Cleveland before the Browns ultimately shut him down for the remainder of the 2025 campaign. Furthermore, Teller will need to remain injury free and also make a traditionally tricky positional switch from the right side to the left side of the line in Houston for next season.

Thankfully, the former Browns interior brawler is canvassing opinions and is certainly not overly losing any sleep about handling the hard parts of doing most everything the opposite way round.

"It is not like I haven’t been in a left-handed stance or left guard pass protecting stance for too long," Teller said, via Texans Wire. "But I was talking to [Cleveland Browns guard] Ethan Pocic, last night or the night before and he was like, ‘Wyatt, I think you are going to make this transition easy.'"

Cleveland Browns guard Wyatt Teller, left, participates in offensive line drills with offensive tackle Lorenzo Thompson during training camp July 23, 2025, in Berea. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

All told, restricting the musical chairs routine as it relates to the blocking department is probably pretty savvy. So despite some rumours that Smith might also make a switch, he would appear to be staying put at right tackle for now.

Smith's often anxiety fraught journey to NFL success has seen him conquer a rare form of OCD; a phenomenal recovery process which made Chris Ballard, his former Indianapolis Colts general manager a big fan of the former Auburn man.

“Braden, just what he’s overcame and his openness, his willingness to make a difference in the mental health space, as we all see right now is an issue,” Ballard said at the NFL scouting combine, via IndyStar.

“What he went through, what he overcame and how he played. He played excellent, and he’s always been good. He’s one of the most underappreciated tackles in the NFL.”

These days, it's the constant physical issues of playing in the trenches which would appear to be his most formidable obstacle for Smith to overcome moving forward.

After all, it was a late season combination of a concussion and a neck injury which cut Smith’s final body of work with the Colts short.

While elements of risk will always remain in play, it's quite frankly impossible to find an offensive lineman who hasn't gone under the knife at one stage either. Therefore, all the fingers are crossed firmly crossed in H-Town for things to go smoothly.

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