Houston Texans' Most Underrated Player for 2025 Revealed

In recent years, the Houston Texans have done an impressive job stacking up their fair share of star talent on both sides of the ball.

Whether you turn offensively to look at C.J. Stroud or Nico Collins, or perhaps on the other side of the ball with names like Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, and Derek Stingley, the Texans have done their part in filling out their great talents across the board that's led to two-straight division victories to their name, and perhaps being on the verge of their third this coming year.

But when looking deeper into next season, who could be the most underrated player in the mix to watch for Houston outside of the usual names?

In the eyes of Pro Football Focus analyst Johnathon Macri, that player could be defensive back Jalen Pitre, who inked his name to a new multi-year contract extension with the Texans earlier this offseason, and could be on the verge of claiming a major role heading into the 2025 campaign.

"Pitre made a position change from a typical safety to more of a primary slot defender in 2024 with a career-high 434 defensive snaps in the slot," Mcari wrote. "With the role change, Pitre also delivered career-high grades across the board, including a 73.9 overall mark, a 79.5 run-defense mark and a 71.3 coverage mark — all top-20 figures at the position... Pitre missed time near the end of last season, but if he continues to play as well as he did in 2024, he should be a big boost to Houston's defense in 2025."

The Texans' secondary could have a chance to be one of the more impressive units in all of the NFL next year, and Pitre could be the cherry on top to fully fill out this group of defensive backs.

During his last season in the fold for Houston, Pitre appeared in 12 games to log 65 tackles, six TFLs, and an impressive eight PBUs–– all within a limited sample size that could be primed to increase this coming season.

Looking at a core held down by not only Stingley and Pitre but also new veteran addition C.J. Gardner-Johnson, second-year guys like Kamari Lassiter, and Caden Bullock, there's a lot of upside to bank on. And if Pitre can return to full health in his role as a versatile nickel in DeMeco Ryans' system, a breakout campaign could be underway for the 25-year-old.

Needless to say, keep a keen eye on Pitre as a budding piece of this Texans' secondary heading into next season.