Dec 25, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) reacts after a play during the game against the Baltimore Ravens at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Analyst Reveals How Houston Texans Could Fall Apart

Originally posted on Houston Texans on SI | By Jared Koch | Last updated Jun 16, 2025 3:30 PM ET

The Houston Texans have made a bundle of improvements to their offensive side of the ball through their months of offseason work and adjustments to the roster.

Yet, despite the immense work around how this offense could look for the 2025 season, there could be one major factor of this Texans' unit that could inevitably derail how much this team improves following an up-and-down 2024 campaign.

Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine recently laid out what could be the Texans' worst-case scenario on the scoring end next season, where the biggest concern encircled one potential nightmare of a situation of Houston's offense: the offensive line is somehow worse than last year.

"The offensive line was the cause for a lot of the Texans' struggles last season," Ballentine wrote. "All things considered, they took an odd approach to fixing it. Tunsil had his struggles last season, but he was still the surest thing they had up front and they traded him away. It allowed them to free up some money, but it also lowered the floor."

"The Texans were able to sign Cam Robinson and Laken Tomlinson, but neither is an above-average starter at this point," Ballentine continued. "Tytus Howard is now the surest thing they have, but they'll need Jarrett Patterson and Blake Fisher to make improvements this season. They could be better, but it's still theoretical at this point. If they aren't at least approaching average as a unit, then Stroud is in for another rough season."

It's an extremely different cast of contributors for the Texans in the offensive trenches this coming year, with what could be an almost entirely different five-man unit from what we saw a year ago. Though with those changes, it could also lead to growing pains over the next season.

And if the front lines somehow suffer more turbulence than what Stroud had seen last season, as he was the second-most sacked quarterback in the league, that could lead to even further regression of this unit from what was seen throughout 2024.

So, while change may have been necessary on this offensive line, there's a world where things could go south next season if the added pieces into the mix don't pan out quite as well as expected. If so, it'd be an undoubtedly brutal 17-game stretch for Stroud on the horizon, and inevitably, a tough blow to any chances of logging more than one playoff win in the books down the line for 2025.

This article first appeared on Houston Texans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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