Texans’ Offensive Line Upgrades Come With One Quiet Concern

At the very least, Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio deserves credit for being so dynamic and proactive about retooling the team's offensive line.

Somewhat of a hopeful consensus has emerged that the money spent on veteran blockers Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith will be well-allocated over the long run.

Adding grizzled, proven guys to the offensive line is never going to steer any general manager in the wrong direction. But if there's going to be a hole punctured through the ceiling of Caserio's grand plan, then it might be that some slightly bothersome injury history may resurface at just the wrong time.

Should Texans Be Worried About Health of Wyatt Teller, Braden Smith?

Teller, who's 31, and Smith, who's 30, each missed four games last season. Not a catastrophic amount, you might suggest, but if it were to happen again, issues would undoubtedly surface.

Teller's calf injury was a recurring problem that at times played him into merely a rotation role in Cleveland before the Browns ultimately shut him down for the remainder of the 2025 campaign. Furthermore, Teller will need to remain injury free and also make a traditionally tricky positional switch from the right side to the left side of the line in Houston for next season.

Thankfully, the former Browns interior brawler is canvassing opinions and is certainly not overly losing any sleep about handling the hard parts of doing most everything the opposite way round.

"It is not like I haven’t been in a left-handed stance or left guard pass protecting stance for too long," Teller said, via Texans Wire. "But I was talking to [Cleveland Browns guard] Ethan Pocic, last night or the night before and he was like, ‘Wyatt, I think you are going to make this transition easy.'"