The postseason will begin for the Houston Texans tonight in Pittsburgh, but before the NFL's youngest franchise sets out on their quest for a Super Bowl title in what's looking like an increasingly wide open Playoff field, I think it's appropriate to take a look back at the regular season that was, and hand out some awards -- or superlatives -- to some of the most deserving individuals on the roster.
You may be asking yourself, Why aren't you waiting until the postseason is over to partake in an exercise such as this one? And to that, I'll answer, Because I truly believe the Houston Texans have as good of a chance as anybody to win the Super Bowl, and if they do, almost all will be forgotten about the regular season.
Therefore, I want to make sure we properly memorialize what will go down as the best regular season in Texans franchise history no matter what happens tonight against the Steelers or the rest of the way this postseason.
Most Valuable Player - Will Anderson Jr.
With apologies to CJ Stroud, Nico Collins, Derek Stingley Jr. and a handful of others who could've been selected for this superlative, the best and most valuable player I saw on the Houston Texans roster all season long was Will Anderson Jr., the dynamic third-year edge rusher who was rightfully named a 1st Team All-Pro for the first time in his career this season.
It's worth noting that for a defense that embraces a SWARM mentality, it all starts with Anderson, whose relentless energy is infectious and the single biggest factor in why all facets of the Texans D is so damn dangerous. Anderson led the league in QB hurries this season while also setting career highs in tackles, sacks, tackles for loss and forced fumbles.
"If you want to play coverage how we play, you have to be able to speed the quarterback up," DeMeco Ryans told DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. "You speed it up with the rusher."
In just a few weeks, Myles Garrett will be named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, and with a record-setting 23 sacks to his name, he deserves it. But when the time comes next August to start making preseason predictions for the 2026 campaign, I can guarantee you I'll be locking in Will Anderson Jr. as my pick.
Most Valuable Depth Piece - Davis Mills
Before a new season begins, when you're looking at the state of your favorite team's roster, one area that typically gets overlooked or forgotten about altogether is back-up quarterback. Obviously, best case scenario, you never have to see this guy take the field unless it's for victory formation, but more often than not, this is somebody who is going to be heard from at some point in the season.
Worst case scenario is that this is someone you need to rely on during the most crucial stretch of your season, but that's exactly when Davis Mills made his presence felt in Houston, taking over for CJ Stroud in the middle of a midseason game that the Texans would go on to lose, dropping the preseason AFC South favorites to 3-5 on the year.
But after the Texans licked their wounds from that last second loss to the AFC's eventual number 1 seed, Mills remained under center for the following three games, and improbably, the former 3rd round pick out of Stanford went 3-0 as Houston's starter, propelling the seemingly lifeless and out-of-the-playoff-race Texans right back into the thick of the Wild Card conversation.
Obviously the Texans defense and various other contributors played key roles in Houston going 3-0 in the three full games that CJ Stroud missed, but let's not discount what Davis Mills was able to do. Mills completed nearly 60 percent of his passes in his three starts for 719 yards, 5 touchdowns and just 1 interception. He scored the game-winning rushing touchdown in the single most important game of Houston's season, and he orchestrated three game winning drives.
Sounds to me like that's $7 million well spent.
Unsung (Offensive) Hero of the Season - Nico Collins
Okay, I know Nico Collins earned a Pro Bowl nod and nobody would really question whether he's Houston's best and most important skill player, but I actually don't think we've talked about him enough this season. We collectively need to sing his praises a bit more, and I'll get things kicked off.
Before the season began, I predicted that Nico Collins would be a 1st Team All-Pro. I was buying stock in Houston's offense under new coordinator Nick Caley, and it felt to me like Collins would be the most noteworthy beneficiary. Needless to say, I was wrong about Caley, but then again, I was wrong about a lot of things this season. But by season's end, Collins finished with 71 receptions, 1,117 yards, and 6 touchdowns in 15 games, and while these numbers don't compare to the likes of Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Ja'Marr Chase -- our 1st Team All-Pro receivers this year -- we shouldn't overlook the fact that:
A) Nico Collins may not be as talented as those three wideouts, but those three wideouts certainly have a better offensive supporting cast around them than Collins does.
B) Collins still ranked 9th in the league in receiving yards.
C) Collins was saddled with Davis Mills (no disrespect) for three and a half games, missed two games, and was still among the most productive pass-catchers in the NFL.
D) Never made a peep even after games when the ball wasn't coming his way as often or as accurately as one would hope.
He's a consummate leader and one of the better big game receivers in the NFL. Don't be surprised at all if Collins has a huge outing against the Steelers tonight.
Unsung (Defensive) Hero of the Season - Henry To'oTo'o
I've sung the praises of plenty of Texans defenders in my Defensive Spotlight series throughout the season, but one player who never had that spotlight shone on him this season was Henry To'oTo'o.
To'oTo'o was one of just six Texans defenders to start every game, he finished with the second-most tackles on the team behind his Pro Bowl bound counterpart Azeez Al-Shaair, and if you want to see a dude who emodies SWARM, watch To'oTo'o roam from sideline to sideline. Every single play it looks like he's being shot out of a cannon.
As a former linebacker myself, it's a whole hell of a lot of fun to watch.
Rookie of the Year - Woody Marks
With apologies to Jayden Higgins -- consider me bullish on a breakout season for Higgins next year -- and Aireontrae Ersery -- who had a C+ season at left tackle, which if we're grading on a scale for a rookie 2nd rounder, it might as well be a B+ -- it was Woody Marks who ran away, literally and figuratively, with this distinction this year.
You don't need me to tell you that Woody Marks was not supposed to be this involved in Houston's offensive attack this year. Even though Joe Mixon's injury status felt murky right from the get-go, you figured he would be back at some point this year. Nuh uh. And hey, Nick Chubb gave Houston everything he had, but too many miles and too many surgeries limited his impact.
That meant Marks was thrust into the lead role in Houston's backfield, and although the 4th rounder didn't put up eye-popping numbers, he handled the burden reasonably well. Among all rookie running backs, Marks finished with the 5th-most all purpose yards (911) this season, trailing only Ashton Jeanty (1,321), TreVeyon Henderson (1,132), Quinshon Judkins (998) and Kyle Monangai (947).
Record-Setting Performance of the Season - Ka'imi Fairbairn ties NFL record with 44 field goals
We covered this one in depth earlier this week, and because Ka'imi Fairbairn himself didn't really feel all that much like talking about it, I'll respect his wishes and move on.
Best Moment of the Regular Season - Texans overcome 19-point 4th quarter deficit vs. Jacksonville
As I stated at the top, I believe the Houston Texans have as good of a chance as anybody left in the field to win the Super Bowl this year. I don't know if it will happen, but I do know that the Texans wouldn't even be in this position had they not went on the rarely seen 26-0 4th quarter run in their Week 10 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Consider: at this point in the season, Houston was 3-5 and just 15 minutes away from 3-6. They're starting quarterback had exited the previous week's game with a concussion and likely wouldn't be back for at least another week (he ended up missing two more games). The league's best defense, which had given up more than 21 points just once up to this point in the season, had given up 29 in the first three quarters, and a stretch in the schedule that included games against Buffalo and at both Kansas City and Indianapolis was still to come.
The Houston Texans not only overcame a 19 point deficit and stunned the Jacksonville Jaguars, they quite literally saved their 2025 season. Since that game, the Texans haven't lost, and since entering the 4th quarter trailing 29-10 on that Sunday afternoon, they've outscored their opponents 226-145, and 30 of those points came in the final game of the season, when Houston's starters didn't even finish the game against Indianapolis.
I truly can't remember a time where a team that looked so close to being lifeless erupted in such an incredible and unexpected way, and carried that momentum from one win throughout the course of the next two and a half months.
"I think that one mattered the most," Calen Bullock told ESPN of the win against Jacksonville. "Shoot, we didn't win that one, we wouldn't be in this position right now."
Nope. If they didn't win that one, I would've filed this superlatives column away a week ago, and we'd be waiting for Pittsburgh versus somebody else to be played tonight. Texans fans would be in a full blown panic about the team's future, and Ka'imi Fairbairn's record-setting season really wouldn't have mattered because Texans fans would be apoplectic about missing the Playoffs.
It's funny how things work out, isn't it?