It feels like, within a matter of just a couple of years, the Houston Texans have built a solid foundation of core players that are working to bring a Super Bowl to Houston. Whether it’s bringing in young players by way of the NFL Draft, making shrewd trades, or making deals in free agency, GM Nick Caserio, alongside head coach DeMeco Ryans, is building something substantial here.
One way to get a gauge and quantify the exact sturdiness of the franchise’s foundation is to add up how many players they have that are considered “Top 10” at their positions around the league. Thankfully, this time of year, ESPN.com publishes the results, over an 11 day span, of a survey they run with 70 executives, coaches, and scouts, in which they ask them to do just that — rank the top 10 players at each position around the league.
Now, three years ago, there would have been almost no reason for Texans fans to pay attention to this exercise. They might have had Laremy Tunsil cracking the top ten among offensive tackles. (NOTE: This year, he is 7th, as he embarks on his Washington Commanders career chapter.)
Now, it’s all different. A total of 11 players made it onto the radar, by receiving votes. Of those 11, five made the top 10 at their positions around group, and three made honorable mention. Here is the sum total of the results, as it pertains to the Houston Texans:
Running back — JOE MIXON, 9th overall
Coming off a season in which there was a renaissance around the league at this position, with older backs having career years, Mixon was right there in that group. Mixon rushed for over 1,000 yards, in a season where he missed three games, and had shoddy blocking in front of him. That might have been the biggest surprise for me with Mixon — how much he was able to create on his own, through elusiveness and sheer force.
Edge defenders — WILL ANDERSON, 8th overall
Edge defenders — DANIELLE HUNTER, 9th overall
The Texans were the only team to get two players in the top 10 at this position group, and I couldn’t think of a better position to have two beasts like this. Anderson should crack the top five next season, if all the hard work he puts in this offseason translates proportionally. Hunter has evolved into an automatic double digit sack guy every year. The two of them are the engine that makes everything go defensively.
Safety — C.J. GARDNER-JOHNSON, Honorable mention
Safety — CALEN BULLOCK, Honorable mention
Safety — JALEN PITRE, Also receiving votes
The position where the Texans had the most players recognized was at safety, which is a bit of a misnomer for Jalen Pitre, who spends more time playing a hybrid slot corner/linebacker role these days. Seeing Gardner-Johnson on here should get Texans fans fired up to see their newest dude in the secondary. Bullock showing up in honorable mention was a nice surprise. His playmaking ability obviously pops on film.
Tight end — DALTON SCHULTZ, Also receiving votes
Schultz backslid this year. After a 10th overall finish in 2024, Schultz’s very uneven 2025 was noticed by the voters. He had trouble blocking in the run game, and some very high profile gaffes in pass protection in the playoffs. A return to the top 10 would be a huge accomplishment in the 2026 polls.
Quarterback — C.J. STROUD, Honorable mention
After finishing 7th in this exercise after an historic rookie season last year, Stroud’s overall profile in the 2025 voting reflected the backward trends of his overall stats, with fewer yards passing and touchdown passes, along with more than doubling his interception rate. I still think Stroud is a top ten quarterback, with top five potential, so long as he gets better offensive line play in front of him. It’s not a coincidence that the Texans received exactly ZERO votes for either offensive line group, interior or tackles.
Off Ball Linebacker — CHRISTIAN HARRIS, Also receiving votes
This was a major surprise to me. If you’d told me that a Texans linebacker received some votes, I would have certainly thought it was Azeez Al-SHaair, who when he was healthy (and not suspended for three games) played a very solid inside linebacker as the captain of the defense. Instead, it was Harris receiving at least one vote (maybe more, they don’t specify) for the potential he flashed over the second half of 2023 and in the postseason that year, when he had a pick six against the Browns and was the Texans’ best player in the loss to Baltimore.
Wide receiver — NICO COLLINS, 8th overall
The wide receiver position in the NFL is absolutely loaded, so that Collins is considered a top ten guy coming off a season where he missed nearly six full games, it says a ton about the impressions he’s made, when healthy. If he can play a full 17 games in 2025, he should threaten Andre Johnson’s single season receiving yard team record of 1,598 yards.
Cornerback — DEREK STINGLEY, 2nd overall
Stingley finished the highest of any Texans player in this voting, parlaying a first team All Pro season into the number two ranking at the premium position of cornerback. Patrick Surtain of the Broncos finished first, deservedly so. It was fun to see Stingley finish three spots ahead of the Jets’ Sauce Gardner, who was taken one pick after Stingley in 2022, and whose first two years seemed to lap Stingley, as Gardner was a first team All Pro and Stingley missed chunks of 2022 and 2023 on injured reserve. Stingley jolted these rankings back into order in 2024, and now will try to ascend to the top this coming season.
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