The Texans are in a somewhat awkward spot as the 2026 regular season approaches. It\u2019s clear they have a talented roster capable of making a deep playoff run, but they haven\u2019t been able to take that next step.<\/p>\n
Since C.J. Stroud became Houston\u2019s starting quarterback, the Texans have made the playoffs every season and have won at least one playoff game each year. Last season, however, there were several issues on the offensive side of the ball. One of the biggest was the play-calling in critical situations. Too often, it felt like Houston wasn\u2019t putting their best players in positions to succeed, and that starts with offensive coordinator Nick Caley. He has to be better.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Caley can call the perfect play, but if the players on the field don\u2019t execute, it won\u2019t matter. That\u2019s where general manager Nick Caserio comes into the conversation. Last season, it felt like the Texans put duct tape over several holes on the roster, and as the year went on, that tape started to peel away.<\/p>\n
The easy answer is to point the finger at Stroud, and to some extent that\u2019s fair. There were plenty of plays he\u2019d like to have back. But the reality is he can\u2019t do it all by himself.<\/p>\n
This offseason, Caserio knew the priority was upgrading the offensive line and surrounding Stroud with more talent, and that\u2019s exactly what Houston did. The Texans added at least three new starters up front who should be major upgrades over last year\u2019s group. They also brought in veteran running back David Montgomery, who looks poised for a big 2026 season.<\/p>\n
One of the more underrated additions was second-round pick Marlin Klein. The rookie tight end is a massive target who gives Houston much-needed depth behind Dalton Schultz, one of Stroud\u2019s favorite and most reliable targets.<\/p>\n
None of these moves guarantee success, but they certainly move the Texans in the right direction. Now it\u2019s just a matter of whether those additions translate onto the field.<\/p>\n
While there are still questions surrounding the offense, the defense was the best in football last season and has only gotten better. Houston added veteran safety Reed Blankenship and selected defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, widely viewed as one of the top interior defensive linemen in the draft.<\/p>\n
This defense has the potential to be dominant once again. It\u2019s a nightmare matchup for opposing offenses and talented enough to carry the team on most Sundays. But if the offense can finally take the next step, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see the Texans emerge as one of the favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texans are in a somewhat awkward spot as the 2026 regular season approaches. It\u2019s clear they have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,23714],"class_list":["post-365420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-texans-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}