Texans Still Have Work to Do on Offensive Line

If you look way past Houston Texans star quarterback C.J. Stroud skipping the Pro Bowl, and then boldly cutting off his famous locs, it's really all fluff before we get to what actually matters.

For as cathartic as making some changes might be for Stroud on a personal level, simply looking himself in the mirror will be guaranteed to get progressively harder. Without much doubt, Houston franchise icon Warren Moon was getting to the heart of the matter when he recently declared the Texans needed to dramatically improve the blocking unit upfront.

Indeed, NFL.com's Kevin Patra powerfully echoed Moon's statement when they published their own rundown of the one roster area the Texans front office gurus should address this offseason.

"The broken record continues to spin in Houston. Despite efforts to fix the blocking problems a year ago, the Texans again fielded one of the worst lines in the NFL. C.J. Stroud was under siege for much of the season, and the run blocking was woeful."

"To make matters worse, the most serviceable among the starting five, guard Ed Ingram, is set to be a free agent. The hope is that Aireontae Ersery can improve upon a rocky rookie campaign. The Texans must bulk up their interior offensive line to help open holes in the ground game, particularly in short-yardage situations."

Texans Have Interesting Dilemma on Offensive Line

In truth, Patra is only pointing out what Texans fans have been seeing play out for a fair bit of time; so the rubber will now meet the road during the NFL Draft in April.

As Patra identified, the Texans' issues upfront could well get more complex if guard Ed Ingram garners the hotly anticipated interest everyone expects when the free agency window swings open.

Texans general manager Nick Caserio is already grappling with trying to juggle the numbers in order to thrash out a new contract extension with superstar edge rusher Will Anderson, and then there's the thorny issue of what to do with extending Stroud.

When the dust settles, don't be surprised in the least if Caserio has to kiss Ingram goodbye when restrictive fiscal constraints come fully to bear; all of which will blow another hole in the already fractured interior of the Texans' offensive line, and will send degrees of difficulty soaring.

Jul 23, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery (79) and guard Ed Ingram (69) and tackle Austin Deculus (76) during training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

What happens next for the Texans? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our free newsletter and get breaking Texans news delivered to your inbox daily!

While turning to the draft process will be expected to provide some tangible solutions, it's also traditionally extremely difficult to fast track offensive linemen without plenty of teething problems.

At the very least, Texans starting left tackle Aireontae Ersery made the transition better than most during his rookie year, but it was far from smooth sailing. Even lucking out by both identifying and selecting the right chess pieces in the blocking department will only give way to intensive bouts of coaching moving forward.

Furthermore, all must be done while Stroud attempts to put his badly fractured confidence back together; so head coach DeMeco Ryans and his new offensive line assistant James Ferentz will now have a major job on their hands.

In essence, there's really no point in dancing around the subject, because only protecting Stroud to a level not seen before is going to allow him to get back on track, and give them a chance to deliver upon lofty championship ambitions.

Brutal ball handling and decision-making deficiencies exposed during the playoffs have framed the spluttering development of Stroud in a rather dim light all of a sudden. As things currently stand, the Texans' organizational commitment to their embattled quarterback has been wholehearted and reassuringly sincere.

For as badly needed as that was, the draft will also have to mirror that kind of total belief in their signal caller with cold hard draft currency spent in the far less glamorous trench upfront.

Be sure to bookmark Houston Texans On SI and follow @TexansOnSI on X for daily Houston Texans news, interviews, breakdowns and more!