An Overview of The 2021 Houston Texans

There aren’t any words besides chaos and dysfunction to describe what has taken place in the Texans organization over the past two years. On the bright side for Texans fans, things can only really improve from here on out given that just about every step has been taken to reset the direction of this franchise towards some state of stability. To be clear, this entire post will be written with the expectation of Deshaun Watson not playing a single snap for the Texans in 2021; this makes projecting their season far less complicated and is also the more likely scenario according to Vegas odds. Given they won’t have Watson to rely on, this makes the Texans by and large the worst team heading into the 2021 season and for many reasons beyond having to start Tyrod Taylor. Not only is there a blatantly broken culture for Dave Culley and Nick Caserio to attempt to fix but the team is depleted of promising young talent. Houston likely will also have two of the worst coordinators in the league given they weren’t even able to attract a better play caller than Tim Kelly who’ll be returning as the O-Coordinator. The odds that Lovey Smith will be able to get a group of low-level veterans and some late-round draft picks to over-achieve and even play with intensity is slim to none. With an underwhelming head coach taking over, a talentless roster, and the absence of Watson, it’d be a shock if the 2021 Texans weren’t one of the worst teams we’ve seen in the past 10 years.

Houston Offense

Overall OFF Grade: 66.4 (32)

Tyrod Taylor is currently projected to start with the rookie, David Mills, to back him up. Despite the fact Taylor initially won the starting job for the chargers over Justin Herbert in 2020, I believe he shouldn’t be more than a backup and will be a struggle to watch with the lack of surrounding help around him. There’s a chance Mills could surprise and beat out Taylor but there’s no reason to bet on it. They have solid pass protection to feel comfortable about but that all mostly tethers on the play of Laremy Tunsil. The run game won’t be helping this offense any as David Johnson is a shell of himself and the Oline prioritizes pass protection without having a good blocking TE. Besides Brandon Cooks, there aren’t any guys from this receiving group that will stand out, barring any development of their slot receiver, Anthony Miller.

Houston Defense

Overall DEF Grade: 67.6 (32)

• View bottom of page for notes on grades.

Houston will be making the change from their previous ‘attacking 3-4’ defense to a ‘4-3 cover 2’ scheme. Now with the absence of J.J. Watt, this defense is without a true leader and is relying on multiple developmental players to step up. The two established key players on this defense in Justin Reid and Zach Cunningham play roles that bring minimal value to the general success of the defense. Although they signed a quality player in Desmond King to fill the nickel role, Bradley Robey is a less than desirable number one corner and everyone besides him hinders their coverage. They are depending on Shaq lawson and a washed-up Whitney Mercilus to lead their pass rush which will only make the jobs of their mediocre corner group even harder. Besides Lawson, just about every other D-lineman is a liability in run defense which makes it the worst in the league. I wouldn’t bet on Lovey Smith to get the most out of these players or improve their tackling issues that showed up in 2020.

Projected Record: 1-16 (4th)

Houston 2021 Schedule

• Individual grades are based on scale of 50-100.