Texans' OL Competition Just Got More Interesting–

The Houston Texans' offensive line competition has just gotten a tad more interesting.

That's because the Texans have just added another offensive line off the free agent market to add to their 90-man roster.

According to KPRC2's Aaron Wilson, the Texans have signed former Tulane tackle Derrick Graham after a successful workout on Monday.

Former Tulane @tulane offensive lineman Derrick Graham signed with the Houston #Texans today after a successful workout, per a league source@KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/OFFjVCopd0
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) June 2, 2026

The move was reported on just hours after the Texans had cleared a roster spot by waiving offensive guard Sidy Sow to slim down their offensive line room just a tad.

However, it wouldn't take long before Houston filled that void with a new contributor in the trenches to try and compete for a spot on the depth chart.

What Derrick Graham Brings to the Texans

Graham is a 6-foot-4, 314-pound left tackle who has a history playing with Texans’ current offensive line coach, Cole Popovich, during his time in that same role at Troy in 2022.

At Tulane, Graham was a first-team all-conference selection and had signed to the Tennessee Titans earlier in the offseason as a UDFA before being released, and now ends up with the Texans right across the AFC South in a short amount of time.

Tennessee Titans tackles Rasheed Miller (62) and Tennessee Titans Derrick Graham (73) drill during the Titans Rookie Camp Day 2 at Vanderbilt Health Football Center in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, May 2, 2026. | DENNY SIMMONS / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In terms of a big-picture fit, it's more likely that Graham will end up competing for a practice squad spot more than anything when factoring in the sheer number of candidates he'll be up against in the Texans' offensive line room.

But at the very least, his addition does tend to make this Texans collective group in the trenches look a little bit deeper and more competitive now, sitting just a few weeks away from training camp.

Texans OL Battle Continues to Look Unpredictable

Now adding Graham into the mix of the Texans' offensive line room, the team now has a total of 16 players on their 90-man roster lining up at one of those offensive line positions.

That's over 17% of the entire makeup of this Houston roster, so there's no question that this will be one of the most competitive and intriguing groups to keep an eye on in the weeks that lie ahead within offseason training.

On the surface, there's a handful of roster locks that don't have to worry about their security in Houston. Guys like Aireontae Ersery, Ed Ingram, Braden Smith, Wyatt Teller, Jake Andrews, and brand new draft picks Keylan Rutledge and Febechi Nwaiwu tend to fit that mold.

Yet outside of those seven, it's a wide-open race for how Houston might sort out the overall nine to 11 names who will fill that final depth chart out from top to bottom. Even for starting spots like left guard and center, those could very well be up in the air from now until Week 1 kicks off.

Jul 23, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans during training camp at Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The battle ensuing puts a major magnifying glass on offseason training for those stuffed a bit deeper down the depth chart to pick out who's winning within the margins, and bringing the consistency that the Texans are looking for to truly round out their offensive line group.

At guard, veterans like Evan Brown and Jarrett Patterson will be seriously tested. On the outside at tackle, Trent Brown and Blake Fisher will have the same task at hand and have an even steeper challenge with UDFAs James Neal and Sam Hagan, and now Graham chomping at the bit to be a fourth offensive tackle on the depth chart.

Needless to say, it sets the stage for a fascinating rest of OTAs to unfold and offseason to follow that'll soon determine what this Texans offensive line will look like after a busy past few months of adjustments to the position.

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