The Houston Texans had a fascinating offseason. The biggest focus of theirs was the offensive line, but the additions they made were questionable at best.
Overall, they added five players to the unit:
- Traded a 6th round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for Ed Ingram
- Signed OG Laken Tomlinson
- Signed LT Cam Robinson
- Signed OT Trenton Brown
- Drafted LT Aireontae Ersery
Of that group, none of them project to be long-term solutions, and the first three all showed major struggles last year. Pair those additions with the Texans trading away All-Pro left tackle Laremy Tunsil and it's borderline baffling.
Houston Texans projected as best landing spot for offensive lineman
One thing that's interesting about free agency post NFL Draft is the compensatory formula doesn't apply. That element usually gets a handful of veterans signing. After their interesting offseason with the offensive line, A to Z Sports' Wendell Ferreira named Houston as the best landing spot for former Vikings guard Dalton Risner.
The Texans are also a team in desperate need of offensive line depth. Currently, the guards are Tytus Howard and Juice Scruggs, and the only draft addition to the room was tackle Aireontae Ersery. Risner has had a weird trajectory over the past few seasons, and he's taken time to decide his future year after year. Over the past two seasons, he ended up signing two one-year contracts with the Minnesota Vikings, playing one year at each guard spot. And he's been really good in pass pro, which is extremely important to make offense viable for CJ Stroud.
It's fascinating that Risner is still a thing. Let me explain.
The Vikings didn't sign him until after week two in 2023 due to the leg injury suffered by Oli Udoh and waited until May to bring him back last year. This was after the fanbase had begged for him to be brought back.
He wasn't a starter either year, but ended up getting the starting job in 2023 due to an injury and subsequent trade of left guard Ezra Cleveland at the trade deadline. In 2024, he got the job halfway through the season due to Ed Ingram's poor performance. The reason why Risner wasn't a starter? He's not that good, especially when it comes to run blocking and his pass blocking grades are better than his performance. All in all, he just isn't good enough to be a consistent starter.
If the Texans brought in Risner, another battle with him and Ingram would be quite the interesting turn of events, and one that we've seen before. It also raises questions about general manager Nick Caserio. Is he trying to recreate the worst parts of the Vikings' offensive line that lost them the last two games? That would not be the best strategy.
