When Nick Caserio took over as the general manager of the Houston Texans in January 2021, he was inheriting a team whose defensive cupboard was relatively empty. The Texans were 27th in points allowed and 30th in yards allowed during the 2020 season, meaning it would be a slow but necessary rebuild on that side of the ball.
Over Caserio's first two seasons on the job in Houston, things didn't get better. The Texans defense remained one of the worst in the NFL, but things finally took a turn in the right direction after Caserio made the decision to hire DeMeco Ryans to be the 6th full-time head coach in franchise history in February 2023.
That offseason, Caserio, Ryans, and the Texans front office started to build what is now arguably the best defense in the National Football League. Derek Stingley Jr. and Jalen Pitre were already in place having been selected with the 3rd and 37th overall picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Texans then added Will Anderson Jr. with the 3rd pick in 2023, landed Henry To'oTo'o in the 3rd round, and brought in Kamari Lassiter and Calen Bullock via the Draft in 2024 just a month after adding Danielle Hunter and Azeez Al-Shaair on back to back days in March.
That's eight high-end starters added to the Texans defense over the course of 24 months. But in the mind of DeMeco Ryans, it's not as simple as just assembling the greatest collection of talent. It's a much more detailed process than that.
“it's just about everybody really playing together. That's the one thing I believe. True defense, when you're a good defense, everybody's playing together, everybody's communicating well," Ryans told reporters on Monday, per Cole Thompson of Texans Wire. "Of course, you have to be a fast, physical outfielder who's flying around to the football. That's what we have, starting with our guys up front. They're the key to what we do. They've done a really good job of it when we do cover them well in the back end, having those guys have more time to get after the passer."
The Texans most important player is Will Anderson Jr.
One of those guys getting after the passer each and every week is Will Anderson Jr., who currently boasts the third best odds in the NFL to win Defensive Player of the Year. Above any of the other acquisitons the Texans have made on the defensive side of the ball over the last few years, Anderson is the most consequential. By the time it's all said and done, the third-year edge rusher could end up going down as one of the best players in franchise history, his name right there along with the likes of Andre Johnson and J.J. Watt.
The eye test tells you that, but so does the coaching staff.
“We needed a foundational piece on that defensive side. You look at Will Anderson Jr. and his track record in college, everybody you talk to at Alabama, everything they had to say about Will, the type of leader he was," Ryans explained. "You didn't even have to talk about the player. You could see how relentless he was on tape, how he finished. But, to hear the leader that he was, how he held other guys accountable, how he was the guy."
Defensive coordinator Matt Burke spoke about Anderson with a similar amount of enthusiasm late last week, noting that the 24 year-old star-in-the-making is among the hardest working and most talented players that he's seen in his two decades in the NFL.
“I’ve told people this before, the standard in my career is always Kyle Vanden Bosch, the way he trained and played and practiced. I always put his picture up when I talk about effort. And I’m like, 'Until someone does it better, this guy is going to be my flag bearer,'"Burke explained.“Don’t tell Kyle this, but Will’s picture is going to be up there someday, if I'm fortunate enough to keep coaching long enough.”
So long as Will Anderson Jr. is in a Texans uniform, fans in Houston will be just as fortunate.