Texans Standing Behind OC Nick Caley Heading Into Year Two

Among the biggest changes made by the Houston Texans headed into last season was their pivot at offensive coordinator. The team decided to move off of previous play-caller Bobby Slowik after two seasons at the helm to instead pick up LA Rams assistant Nick Caley to claim the reins of this scoring attack.

Having been a first-time play-caller running the show for Houston's offense, the first few weeks of his initial time with the Texans were far from ideal. The team started off 0-3, the offense and protection from the offensive line struggled mightily, and even had lingering chatter questioning whether Caley truly was the right man for the job.

But in due time, the Texans and their offense, combined with an elite defense on the other end, turned things around in the second half of the season.

Caley found his groove as a play-caller that allowed Houston to play complementary football from Weeks 10 to 18, rattle off a 3-0 record led by backup Davis Mills, and rode that hot hand all the way out once C.J. Stroud was healthy from concussion protocol for nine consecutive wins to close out the year.

Of course, the season didn't end how anyone in Houston would've liked. However, as it concerns Caley, the Texans (and more specifically head coach DeMeco Ryans) saw enough from his first campaign to label the output as an overall success.

"I like how he was able to morph and transition into what we needed to work for us to win games," Ryans on Caley at the NFL owners meetings, via Aaron Wilson.

"That's what I knew about him going in. His flexibility and being able to go in any manner we needed to go to help us win games he was able to do that."

Texans, DeMeco Ryans Wants to Improve Protection in 2026

Now with the 2026 season on the horizon, Caley now enters his second campaign with the Texans looking to be much more settled in from where he was in the system this time last year, also with some better personnel to surround him.

Particularly for the offensive line, Houston's free agent pursuit of tackle Braden Smith and guard Wyatt Teller offers Caley a couple more starters upfront to help further secure the safety of quarterback C.J. Stroud, as well as improve their running game newly led by David Montgomery.

Ryans will be eager to get this offensive line even better from where their improvements led them towards the second half of last season, and is a task bound to be at the top of Caley's priority list for the Texans to be a true Super Bowl contender.

Jul 23, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley during training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

From what Caley showed last year with his steady improvements from start to finish of the season, though, finding those strides forward should be more than possible with his budding offensive mind leading the way.

"I think we did a better job from a protection standpoint than the previous years, just when it came to not getting the quarterback hit as much," Ryans continued. "I thought we did a better job there. Still looking to enhance and improve that, but I thought Nick did a really good job of setting their protections."

"Our protection schemes were sound, and our players upfront did a really good job of being sound of where they were going and how we were picking things up.”

Depending on how the offensive line pans out for the 2026 season, it might be the one factor that makes or breaks how high this Texans roster's true ceiling is.

For Caley, as well as offensive line coach Cole Popovich, the pressure is on to put together their best unit of protection since Stroud's arrival in 2023. And if they do, it'll pay out major dividends for everyone involved.

Time will tell if it'll happen, but Houston's head coach is confident he's got the right guys in place to do so.

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