Battle Red Blog
Have all of these moves made them better
It is clear to anyone that watches football that the Houston Texans had a bad offensive line in 2024. Of course, the team could have gone anywhere with that information. They traded out offensive coordinators, so they could have simply blamed it on the offensive scheme. They also let the leading offensive line coach go. So, they could have easily blamed it on bad coaching.
Obviously, Nick Caserio and company didn’t just stop there. They also took three of the players that were starters on day one of the 2024 season and have replaced. PFF is not the end all be all of human existence, but it is one rating system. They ranked the Texans as the 22nd best offensive line in the NFL last season. Some rating systems had them higher, but most had them lower. Another group called Sharp rated them as 27th when looking at pressure rates and win rates.
However, they did break down some stats individually. They were 27th in pass blocking win rate, 6th in pressure percentage rate, 23rd in sack pressure percentage, 23rd in blitz percentage, and 20th in time to sack. So, based on most of the numbers, the Texans were in the bottom 25 percent of the league. So, for those shedding tears over the loss of the three guys we are ridding ourselves of, how good were they exactly? Well, let’s look at PFF grades for pass protection, run blocking, and overall production for the three guys leaving and four guys coming in.
Laremy Tunsil: 78.1 Overall, 89.1 Pass, 74.0 Run
Shaq Mason: 60.5 Overall, 63.6 Pass, 56.9 Run
Kenyon Green: 38.6 Overall, 39.7 Pass, 44.6 Run
Cam Robinson: 63.2 Overall, 67.2 Pass, 60.0 Run
Trent Brown: 65.2 Overall, 64.2 Pass, 68.4 Run
Laikan Tomlinson: 62.1 Overall, 65.1 Pass, 59.7 Run
Ed Pearson: 54.0 Overall, 49.1 Pass, 58.1 Run
Notice that all three of the linemen leaving had worse run grades than pass blocking grades. So, even when we leave aside locker room concerns I’ve mentioned before, we can see the direction they are moving. A 60 grade is essentially the water level for average. So, we replaced one good lineman, one average lineman, and one terrible lineman with three average lineman and one below average lineman.
The blueprint appears pretty clear. When you put them up against the linemen that are coming back it makes perfect sense, The Texans had by every definition a below average offensive line in 2024. it is probably way too optimistic for them to become a good offensive line overnight. However, let’s take a look at the returning linemen.
Tytus Howard: 70.2 Overall, 74.9 Pass, 61.3 Run
Jarrett Patterson: 64.1 Overall, 69.9 Pass, 58.8 Run
Juice Scruggs: 63.0 Overall, 62.1 Pass, 63.7 Run
Blake Fisher: 44.7 Overall, 46.7 Pass, 43.8 Run
So, regardless of position, the Texans have one above average lineman and five average linemen already under contract. Fisher was decidedly well below average, but...
