DeMeco Ryans
Getty
Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans wants to let his offensive line's play on the field do the talking
During the 2024 season, there was too much conversation about the offensive line of the Houston Texans. Too many times, a unit that is often operating at max capacity when nobody is talking about it, was being discussed so much because of their collective inability to keep quarterback CJ Stroud protected. As a result, the Texans offense backslid, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik wasn’t retained, and Houston overhauled their O-Line.
All of the changes — most notably, trading Laremy Tunsil and drafting Aireontae Ersery — have everyone eager to continue talking about the Texans offensive line on the eve of the 2025 season, but it’s gotten to the point where head coach DeMeco Ryans is sick of talking. He’s ready to see how the new group looks on the field.
“Quite frankly, I’m tired of talking about it. It’s time to go play, and let’s see how our five match up against a great defensive line,” Ryans said, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN. “There’s been questions all offseason about our offensive line. Everybody wants to know who’s going out there, who is this guy at this position, that position, it’s just a lot of talk.”
New Faces Ready to Keep CJ Stroud Clean
The time for talk is now over. The Texans first challenge will come in the form of a Los Angeles Rams team that ranked in the top ten in pressure rate in 2024. It wasn’t just against the top pass-rushes in the league that the Texans offensive line struggled against during the 2024 season, though. In total, Houston gave up 52 sacks of CJ Stroud, the third-highest mark in the NFL.
Nobody would fault CJ Stroud if he came into the season with concerns, but so far, Houston’s franchise QB has been saying all of the right things when it comes to his offensive line.
“I think one thing about this group that I’m really proud of is that they’re dogs from left to right,” Stroud said. “I think everybody that we got up there loves to play and plays really hard. The effort is there.”
The starting group will be made up of untested center Jake Andrews, Laken Tomlinson and Ed Ingram at the guard spots, and then Tytus Howard and rookie Aireontae Ersery at tackles. Ersery, selected in the 2nd Round of the 2025 NFL Draft, is arguably the biggest question mark, simply because he has not a single NFL rep to his name at this point in time. But Ersery beat out Cam Robinson and Blake Fisher in training camp to earn the spot, and he feels as though he’s ready.
“I know everybody’s going to go look at me like I’m easy money, but they’re going to figure it out soon,” Ersery told ESPN. “Going against a good opponent kind of just lets you see where you are at in your game.”
So what will the biggest difference be this year for Houston, other than Ersery and three other new starters that are being worked into the fold? Back in July, shortly before Texans training camp began, Tytus Howard shared that in addition to adjusting to a new offense under first-year coordinator Nick Caley and a new offensive line coach in Cole Popovich, it’s a mindset shift that will result in more consistent play.
“We’re going to be more nasty up front,” Howard told Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle. “We’re going to get more gritty. Guys finishing more plays. We need more guys on the ground when we get done with them. We just got to be a nastier group up front.”