The Texans were on the doorstep of a breakthrough season in 2019. After winning the AFC South with a 10-6 record and rallying to defeat the Buffalo Bills on Wild Card Weekend, Bill O'Brien's club had the Kansas City Chiefs on the brink of elimination, going up by as many as 24 points by the start of the second quarter in the divisional round. A trip to the AFC Championship seemed all but certain, but then Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs showed why they would eventually go on to win Super Bowl LIV, mounting an epic comeback to end Houston's season.
Over the course of this offseason, the Texans have gone through a rather major overhaul on offense, specifically at receiver with the trade that sent DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. That on its own will change how the overall roster will look once the regular season kicks of in a few months.
For the purpose of this depth chart projection, we will be projecting up to the top four at any given position on offense and the top-three on the defensive side of the ball. The Texans, like all 32 teams, have a bloated roster that can balloon up to 90 players at the moment but come September, that number will drop significantly when the coaches settle in on the 53-man roster.
Rookies will be denoted with a (*).
With all that out of the way, let's get to it.
Offense
| Starter | Backup | Depth | Depth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Deshaun Watson | A.J. McCarron | Alex McGough | Nick Tiano* |
| RB | David Johnson | Duke Johnson | Buddy Howell | Karan Higdon |
| FB | Cullen Gillaspia | |||
| LWR | Brandin Cooks | Steven Mitchell Jr. | Isaac Whitney | Isaiah Coulter* |
| RWR | Will Fuller | Kenny Stills | Chad Hansen | Tyler Simmons* |
| SWR | Randall Cobb | Keke Coutee | DeAndre Carter | |
| TE | Darren Fells | Jordan Thomas | Jordan Akins | Kahale Warring |
| LT | Laremy Tunsil | Brent Qvale | Elijah Nkansah | David Steinmetz |
| LG | Max Scharping | Rick Leonard | Cordel Iwuagwu* | |
| C | Nick Martin | Greg Mancz | | |
| RG | Zach Fulton | Senio Kelemete | Charlie Heck* | Elex Woodworth* |
| RT | Tytus Howard | Roderick Johnson | Kyle Murphy |
Houston's offense will look drastically different from when we last saw it. This offseason they traded away Hopkins and brought in receivers Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb along with running back David Johnson. Hopkins had nearly 100 more targets (150) than Will Fuller last season, who was the second-most targeted pass catcher within the Texans offense with 71 looks. It seems clear that with the additions of Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb, Houston will be looking to spread the ball more evenly across its pass-catchers.
Not only will the receivers be different, but the arrival of David Johnson does add another wrinkle to Houston's backfield. Johnson fell out of favor in Arizona, but if he's able to even come close to his 2016 All-Pro form, the Texans running game will be better served.
"I think any time you take the field with multiple weapons, multiple guys who can hurt a defense at a variety of different levels not just necessarily deep, short or intermediate but be able to threaten every aspect of the field is a good thing," said offensive coordinator Tim Kelly back in late-May. "Again, we've got a great quarterback, a guy who's going to be able to distribute the ball and again get the ball to the guys that are winning, and we've got guys who have won consistently for a long time scattered throughout that room."
Of course, the Texans also have Deshaun Watson heading into his fourth year in the league. The 2019 campaign was a bit of a step back in terms of Watson's statistical output as his completion percentage (67.3%) and yards passing (3,852) were both fewer than what we saw from him in 2018. Watson's 12 interceptions were also a career-high. That said, he's still immensely talented and with a more well-rounded offense around him, he should be among the very best young quarterbacks in the entire NFL.
As for the offensive line in front of him, it will be interesting to see how much starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil can improve now that he has a full year in the system under his belt.
Defense
| Starter | Backup | Depth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE | Angelo Blackson | Charles Omenihu | Ira Savage-Lewis |
| NT | Eddie Vanderdoes | Ross Blacklock* | Auzoyah Alufohai* |
| DE | J.J. Watt | Brandon Dunn | Carlos Watkins |
| OLB | Whitney Mercilus | Duke Ejiofor | David Bellamy |
| ILB | Zack Cunningham | Dylan Cole | Tyrell Adams |
| ILB | Benardrick McKinney | Peter Kalambayi | Nate Hall |
| OLB | Brennan Scarlett | Jacob Martin | Jonathan Greenard* |
| LCB | Gareon Conley | Lonnie Johnson Jr. | Phillip Gaines |
| RCB | Bradley Roby | Keion Crossen | Anthony Chesley |
| SCB | Vernon Hargreaves | John Reid* | |
| FS | Justin Reid | Eric Murray | Jaylen Watkins |
| SS | Eric Murray | Michael Thomas | Shalom Luani |
In the secondary, the Texans did lose corner Jonathan Joseph to the Titans in free agency, ending his nine-year stint with the franchise. They were, however, able to re-sign fellow corner, Bradley Roby, to a three-year deal. Now, it looks like Roby and Gareon Conley, who started six games for the Texans after being acquired in a trade with the Raiders, will start at the right and left corner spots for Houston in 2020. Lonnie Johnson Jr., who was selected in the second round of the 2019 draft, will need to greatly improve to factor into those discussions at corner.
Houston did draft John Reid in the fourth round of the 2020 draft out of Penn State and could serve as the Texans slot corner along with Vernon Hargreaves. At strong safety, the Texans dipped into free agency to add Eric Murray, inking him to a three-year, $20.25 million deal.
Along the front-seven, J.J. Watt remains the face of the Texans defense. 2019 was another injury-filled season for him, playing in just eight games during the regular season before suffering a torn pectoral. He was able to return for the postseason, but staying healthy all the way through the 2020 season will be critical for the Texans to have success. While they didn't own a first-rounder this year, the Texans were able to grab some really nice pieces with their first two picks, drafting TCU defensive tackle Ross Blacklock in the second round and Florida edge rusher Jonathan Greenard in the third.
Special teams
| Starter | Backup | |
|---|---|---|
| K | Ka'imi Fairbairn | |
| P | Bryan Anger | |
| LS | Jon Weeks | Anthony Kukwa |
| KR | DeAndre Carter | |
| PR | DeAndre Carter | Keke Coutee |
The specialist positions are pretty straightforward with the Texans after they re-signed Ka'imi Fairbairn to a four-year deal this offseason. The 26-year-old has been with Houston since 2016 and connected on 80% of his field goals in 2019. DeAndre Carter re-signed with the Texans on a one-year deal this offseason and will likely remain as Houston's kick returner.
The biggest change to the special teams unit for Houston is the retirement of special teams coordinator Brad Seely this offseason. Seely was a special teams coordinator in the league from 1989-2019 and originally joined the Texans back in 2018.