The Houston Texans have captured back-to-back AFC South titles, so naturally, they are the favorites to win the division once again in 2025.
Given the fact that the Texans clearly have the best quarterback-head coach tandem among the four AFC South clubs, the fact that they are favorites is entirely understandable.
However, if Houston fans think this is going to be easy, they are kidding themselves.
While the Texans arguably remained somewhat stagnant this offseason due to very limited financial flexibility, the rest of the division improved. The Jacksonville Jaguars added Travis Hunter. The Indianapolis Colts repaired their secondary. The Tennessee Titans drafted Cam Ward.
Heck, when you look at the Jaguars and Colts' rosters, a legitimate argument can be made that they actually have more intriguing pieces than Houston. I mean, outside of the quarterback position, Indianapolis may very well have one of the most loaded rosters in football.
Jacksonville may have only won four games last year, but the Jaguars were not nearly as bad as their record may have indicated, and now they have a tremendous duo of Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. at Trevor Lawrence's disposal. Obviously, Lawrence is a huge question mark, but if he can finally find his groove, Jacksonville will be dangerous.
The Titans? Yeah, they will be pretty poor again, but they will certainly be more exciting with Ward under center, and remember: Tennessee upset the Texans in Houston last fall.
The Texans still have a bevy of questions offensively. Was Stroud's pedestrian 2024 just a sophomore slump, or something more concerning? Can the rookie wide receivers step up and produce right off the bat? Is the offensive line up to snuff?
Houston is not a juggernaut. It doesn't have the same type of stranglehold on the AFC South that the Buffalo Bills possess over the AFC East, for example. The Texans are good, but they have very evident holes that could cause significant problems next season.
There stands a serious chance that Houston could find itself falling out of first place in the division come next autumn.
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