The anticipation continues to build for the 2025 Houston Texans. Training camp is just a couple months out, and the season itself starts in about 100 days. The Texans have made plenty of moves, most of which appear to have potential for instant improvement over 2024.
Before we get to camp in July, though, there are a few more milestones on the calendar. One of them begins this morning, as, by the time you're reading this, the Texans have likely taken the field for the first session of Organized Team Activities, or OTA's, in NFL parlance.
The media is allowed to watch two sessions this week, one on Wednesday and one on Friday. Here are four questions for which we are seeking answers, as we observe:
4. Are we able to form opinions on Nick Caley's offense?
The Houston Texans were a good football team in 2024. You're not one of the final eight teams standing by being a bad football team. However, ultimately, any chance of advancing beyond the divisional round of the playoffs was done in by Bobby Slowik's offense. It's clear by how the Texans operated after the season that they feel the lion's share of the blame for an underperforming offense fell on Slowik and offensive line coach Chris Strausser, who were both fired after the season.
Enter Nick Caley as the new OC, fresh off a couple years with the Rams and several years with the Patriots. Much has been made that this offense will not be a variation of someone else's playbook, but instead a combination of all of Caley's stops in his background. OTA's don't involve any contact, so we won't see hardcore 11-on-11, but perhaps we get some glimpses of formations and scheme.
**3. Does C.J. Gardner-Johnson bring a Stefon Diggs vibe?**Last season, the Texans' practices had a different energy to them with Diggs' arrival. The former Texans wide receiver, who is now in New England, loved to work, and embraced practice every day. He spent time with teammates on both sides of the ball coaching and encouraging. In short, you knew Diggs' eventual departure would leave an energy vacuum. The Texans trade for Gardner-Johnson for his championship pedigree and high energy level. I anticipate a similar "DIggs effect" with Gardner-Johnson, where a newcomer's vibe is immediately felt by everyone observing and participating in practice.
**2. Can Dameon Pierce take advantage of the reps?**According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, Joe Mixon is unlikely to practice this go round:
"Had a few people ask me about Joe Mixon. I’ll throw this in there at the end. So, my understanding is it’s nothing serious with Joe. It may cause him to miss a little bit of time in the spring, but it’s nothing alarming. I think he’ll be ready for training camp, maybe even ready sooner than that. But right now, yeah, I don’t think he’ll be doing any practices, and so it’s something, but it’s not anything real big. And I know a few people have asked me this question. I’ve done some reporting on this. I’ve checked with some folks, and I’m not concerned."
So with Mixon out, this means more opportunities for Dameon Pierce to get reps with the first team, and immerse himself in this new offense of Caley's. It's no secret that Pierce had tremendous difficulty adapting to Slowik's zone run scheme, so every chance for Pierce to accelerate his aptitude in Caley's offense is a big positive, especially for Pierce individually, as this is contract year.
**1. What will the configuration of the offensive line look like?**If the Texans are going to take that next step, and ascend to "new heights" (DeMeco Ryans' catchphrase for "getting to the conference title game for the first time in franchise history"), the offensive line has to be better. It's not even negotiable. C.J. Stroud cannot get sacked 54 times again, as he did in 2024. The Texans have cleaned out some of the old faces, via trade and releases — Laremy Tunsil, Kenyon Green, Shaq Mason — and brought in a slew of veteran journeymen. There are roughly ten bodies for five starting roles, and it's been clear that the best five will play.
Thus, we will see a ton of guys being tried at multiple positions, until they land on a permutation that works. It's the complete opposite of last year's offseason, when the starting five felt anointed from jump. The life of the newly retooled offensive line begins today.
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