The 2024 NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror, as too are the first couple of waves of NFL free agency.
It’s time to turn our attention to the current roster to see where it may have concerns. Houston has aspirations of playing 20+ games this season in hopes of making it to their first-ever Super Bowl. To do so they’ll need top-end talent and key depth pieces to keep the team afloat as injuries hit over a long, rigorous season.
MORE: Texans have several positional battles in 2024
Here’s a “way-to-early” look at the Texans’ 53-man roster.
Texans' 53-man roster predictions, concerns and possible fixes
The point of this exercise isn’t to correctly name the exact 53 players who can survive the cutdowns from their offseason 90-man roster. Rather, this should highlight where the troubled areas may be. Houston can proactively look to fill these voids before the roster is truly complete.
TEXANS 2024 SEASON: Full schedule | Predictions | Primetime games
Also to note: This isn't a predictive depth chart. So the order of the names listed isn't an indication of where players will land in their positional pecking order.
Texans possible 53-man roster following the 2024 NFL Draft
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| QB | C.J. Stroud, Davis Mills, Case Keenum |
| RB | Andrew Beck (FB), Joe Mixon, Jawhar Jordan, Dameon Pierce |
| WR | Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, John Metchie III, Noah Brown |
| TE | Dalton Schultz, Cade Stover, Teagan Quitoriano, Brevin Jordan |
| OT | Laremy Tunsil, Tytus Howard, Blake Fisher, Charlie Heck |
| iOL | Shaq Mason, Juice Scruggs, Jarrett Patterson, Kenyon Green |
| DT | Denico Autry, Foley Fatukasi, Tim Settle, Marcus Harris, Khalil Davis, Kurt Hinish |
| DE | Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Derek Barnett, Dylan Horton |
| LB | Christian Harris, Azeez Al-Shaair, Henry To'oTo'o, Jamal Hill, Neville Hewitt, Max Tooley |
| CB | Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter, Jeff Okudah, Myles Bryant, C.J. Henderson, D'Angelo Ross |
| S | Jimmie Ward, Jalen Pitre, Calen Bullock, Lonnie Johnson Jr. |
| ST | Ka'imi Fairbairn, Tommy Townsend, Jon Weeks |
Texans roster concerns
Secondary
The defensive back group is the most troubling, even after drafting cornerback Kamari Lassiter in the second round and safety Calen Bullock in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
At cornerback, Derek Stingley Jr. is the star but he’s struggled to stay healthy since his stellar freshman year at LSU back in 2019. Since that time he’s missed at least five games in every season in college and the pros. Jimmie Ward is similar to Stingley Jr. but older and at the safety position in the secondary. Ward has averaged five missed games a year since 2016. He’s missed 12 games in the last two seasons.
So with that in mind, the Texans are lacking in top-end talent at both positions in their secondary.
If Stingley Jr. and Ward continue with their history of missed games — and at worst, at the same time — Houston would have a secondary made up of draft busts, rookies and players who haven’t played to their potential.
The starting secondary without Stingley Jr. and Ward would be made up of cornerbacks Jeff Okudah and C.J. Henderson on the outside with rookie second-rounder Lassiter on the inside. Okudah and Henderson both joined the Texans after each was selected in the top 10 picks of the 2020 NFL draft. Top-10 picks from four years ago aren’t readily available unless they flopped horrendously in their first stops.
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At safety, the Texans would start Jalen Pitre and Bullock if Ward was out for a while. Pitre hasn’t lived up to his second-round draft stock to this point in his career and Bullock is a rookie third-round pick that shouldn’t be relied on Year 1 as a starter for a team hoping to beat Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers in a pursuit to just win the AFC for the chance to go to the Super Bowl.
In the scenario that Ward and Stingley Jr. both missed time the Texans starting secondary would be cornerbacks, Okudah/ Henderson/Lassiter with safeties Pitre and Bullock. Despite how good the pass rush and linebackers are, that’s a secondary that will have the above-mentioned quarterbacks salivating.
Linebacker
It’s not just the secondary on the defense that gives pause for concern. Behind starters Azeez Al-Shaair and Christian Harris, Houston leaves much to be desired at linebacker. The Texans know they’re thin at this position as witnessed by the money they handed out to undrafted free agent linebackers Max Tooley and Tarique Barnes. There’s not much help available on the free agent market, so the team turns to a sixth-round pick in Jamal Hill and two older, undrafted linebackers for depth.
The Texans linebacker depth is mostly made up of special teamers like Neville Hewitt, Del’Shawn Phillips and Jake Hansen to go with their starters, top-back Henry To’oTo’o. Houston also added Jacob Phillips at the position along with the three rookie linebackers.
If Harris or Al-Shaair were to miss time then To’oTo’o would become a starter in the team’s base 4-2-5 defense. If both were to miss at the same time, I’m not sure who would start with To’oTo’o in base. Whether they lined up Hewitt, Hansen, one of the rookies or one of the Phillips, it would be far from ideal and a vast falloff in talent.
Bet big on defensive line
The Texans are betting big on their defensive line generating early and often pass pressure. The concept makes sense on paper but the back seven can make these plans collapse when injuries hit if they don’t make another key addition or two, specifically in their secondary.
I don’t believe the Texans are done adding. I can’t believe they’re done adding if they are honestly pursuing a title and not just another playoff run. They aren’t constructed on the backend of their defense to win a Super Bowl, no matter how stacked the offense has become.
Houston is hoping that their four-man pass rush will force the opposing quarterback to get rid of the ball so all the secondary would need to do is become band-aid type coverages that are asked to hold up the route early to allow the defensive line to have time to get home. The Texans aren’t expecting their defensive backs to have to cover for long. It’s a great concept but that goes out the window against the top quarterbacks in the playoffs who will rip off that band-aid and pick at the liability in coverage as if they were scabs.
There are veteran free agents available at cornerback and safety that the Texans need to make a play for if they truly want to be title contenders. The linebacker spot is bare and Houston will hope that the rookies step up and their stars stay healthy at the position.
The Texans could pursue their first Super Bowl this year ... but not with the current secondary’s lack of depth combined with the starter’s injury histories.
