Houston Texans Coach DeMeco Ryans Made It Clear On Improving His Team, Wide Receiver And Offseason Deals

This past week during the the combine, Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans made it clear that improving his team’s pass protection and wide receiver room were points of emphasis for the offseason.

Both areas were issues this past season, and, for different reasons, affected the growth of quarterback C.J. Stroud in Year 2. Stroud finished 15th in passing yards (3,727) and tied for 15th in passing touchdowns (20) after having 4,108 yards (eighth) with 23 touchdowns (13th) as a rookie in two fewer games.

The porous pass blocking led to Stroud being sacked 52 times (second-most) and pressured on 38.6% of his dropbacks (third-most), according to Next Gen Stats. Injuries derailed a promising wide receiver room, led by Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs. Houston had the dynamic trio together for only three full weeks. Collins missed 5½ games (hamstring) in Weeks 5-10. Diggs suffered a season-ending ACL injury in Week 8 and Dell dislocated his knee in Week 16.

“Getting better protection for QB C.J. Stroud is definitely a main point of emphasis for us,” Ryans said. “We know when C.J. is protected — he has a clean pocket — he’s a pretty good quarterback.”

Houston’s offense ranked 18th in scoring, averaging 22 points, and those struggles are why Ryans fired offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and hired Los Angeles Rams’ pass game coordinator and tight ends coach Nick Caley.

But even through the struggles, Houston still won the AFC South and reached the divisional round of the playoffs for the second year in a row. So there’s reason for hope in Houston, and Ryans said they are “close” to where they need to be.

With free agency approaching, key additions to the roster could inch the Texans toward their Super Bowl aspirations.

“You need those playmakers, especially at the wide receiver position,” Ryans said. “It enhances your ability to move the football down the field and score points.”

In their playoff loss, the Kansas City Chiefs pummeled Stroud. He was sacked eight times and pressured on 56% of his dropbacks — the second-highest in an NFL playoff game since ESPN began tracking pressure rates in 2009, trailing only former Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (63%) in 2011.

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Having only Collins as a viable receiving threat was also a problem in Kansas City, too. Although he exploded in Houston’s wild-card game win over the Los Angeles Chargers with seven catches for 122 yards and a touchdown, the Chiefs sent double-teams that limited Collins’ afternoon to 81 yards on five catches.

With the wideout room, the headline offseason question is what do the Texans do with the impending free agency of Diggs. The two-time All Pro ranked seventh in the NFL in catches (47) and was second on the Texans in receiving yards (496) at the time of his injury. Stroud had a passer rating of 104 and completed 73% of his passes when targeting Diggs.

Both Ryans and Texans general manager Nick Caserio had glowing comments about Diggs and see value in having him back.

“Stef is rehabbing,” Caserio said. “He’s going to be a free agent. We’re going to have discussions with all our free agents. Stef did a lot of good things for our team. We’re open to bringing him back.”

Diggs made $22.52 million in 2024 from the Texans, but a team source told ESPN it’ll come down to finding a team-friendly number if they were to re-sign him. Something less than what he made in 2024.

With the new salary cap being raised to $279.2 million, the Texans currently have $6.3 million in cap space, ranking 26th as of Wednesday morning, according to Roster Management System. But there are avenues to create space as Caserio explained the Texans will “entertain all and everything” to add flexibility.

“There’s always different ways you can do it,” Caserio said. “I mean, you can release players, you can restructure players, you can sign extensions. So, we’re not going to be fixated on one particular thing. But you want to be strategic, you want to be smart about how you do it. So, try to keep as many good players as you can.”

For example, left tackle Laremy Tunsil and defensive end Danielle Hunter are coming off Pro Bowl seasons. Either extending or restructuring them could provide cap relief. Tunsil has a team-high $28.5 million cap hit and Hunter has the second-highest at $23.7 million.

Restructuring either Tunsil and Hunter could create at least $20 millions in cap space.

So however Houston figures out how to create more cap space, it offers flexibility in free agency to add pass protection and wideout help. But if Houston doesn’t sign players, there are always the trade market and the draft in April as other ways to help get the offense to the team’s level of expectation.