Texans GM Gives Honest Take on Overhauled Offensive Line

The two major changes enacted for the Texans were their shifts to take place on the outside of their line; deciding to go with rookie Aireontae Ersery as their full-time starting left tackle, while Trent Brown would wind up filling in on the right side as the starting tackle in the middle of the season––both of which got some positive reviews from Caserio.

"We ended up using everybody, and eventually, it kind of settled down once [Aireontae Ersery] was able to kind of settle in at a left tackle; played really good football," Caserio continued. "I say he made some young football player mistakes, and there's some things technique wise that he can certainly improve. We felt once Trent [Brown] got healthy, that Trent would go out there and play pretty good football, and he did."

Then, the interior of Caserio's line had a couple of noteworthy changes that factored into that overhaul as well.

The Texans traded for fourth-year right guard Ed Ingram from the Minnesota Vikings in an offseason deal, who would eventually start a majority of the season for Houston and have a career-best season in the 14 games he was healthy. Starting veteran center Jake Andrews was also a consistent fill-in for the Texans at center, who Caserio noted was playing "on one leg" for half the season.

"Jake Andrews gave us a good level of play," Caserio said. "He probably played–honestly hurt– probably played on one leg for about half the year, which kind of speaks to his toughness. And Ed [Ingram], I mean, Ed had a good year. He probably had his best year. He's a free agent, you know, kind of got to see how that goes."

"So, I mean, overall, it's certainly improved. There's always things that we can do better, but we got contributions from everybody... We have some players who will be free agents in that group. We have some players who are under contract for next year. I'm sure there'll be some different players in that group next year, but we also have some guys under contract that are coming back. Looking forward to kind of putting that group together."

For an offensive line that had as many as the Texans did heading into the season, the results turned out to be a bit more favorable than expected. Stroud had some year-three hiccups, especially in his postseason finale, but this time, the blame isn't shifted on the protection that lies in front of him as it was last year.

The task for the Texans will now be to retain that similar level of protection in the trenches for next season in order to further push the needle forward for Houston's offense entirely, and reach to further heights than what was seen his year. Time will tell if that comes to fruition, but the latest sample size certainly provides a bit of added confidence.