Sports fans are generally so concerned with finding all of the ways that their favorite team can go from good to great that the transformation from lousy to good can often be overlooked. Take for example, the Houston Texans offensive line. By the end of the 2024 season it had become abundantly clear that even with the change at play-caller from Bobby Slowik to Nick Caley, this offense was doomed if the Texans didn't make major changes to the offensive line.
And to the credit of general manager Nick Caserio, head coach DeMeco Ryans and everyone else in the front office, the Texans did indeed make those changes. In total, four new starters entered the fold to begin the 2025 season -- Aireontae Ersery was selected in the 2nd Round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Ed Ingram was acquired from the Minnesota Vikings for the low price of a 6th Round pick. Jake Andrews was scooped up off of waivers after missing the entire 2024 season with the New England Patriots. Veteran Trent Brown, who started the season on the Texans practice squad, ended up settling in at right tackle.
Additionally, Tytus Howard proved to be the piece that the Texans could move wherever there was a void, whether it be at tackle or guard, and with a sprinkling of Juice Scruggs, Blake Fisher and Laken Tomlinson, the Texans O-Line had been remade, and Houston's big bet paid off, at least to some extent. While there are certainly still some kinks to be worked out, particularly as a run-blocking unit, the Texans finished the 2025 season as the fifth-best pass-blocking unit in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus, a significant step in the right direction after finishing as a bottom-ten group in the same category the year prior.
So at the season's conclusion, as Nick Caserio addressed the media for the final time, it makes sense that the 5th-year general manager would tout this as what it was. A minor victory, a step in the right direction, and an area that could still be improved before the 2026 season begins just under nine months from now.
"The big wholesale change, or overhaul was the offensive line... I mean, DeMeco [Ryans] and I both felt we would have a pretty competitive group. We felt that it would be improved," Caserio said during his end-of-season presser, according to Jared Koch of Sports Illustrated. "I mean, overall, it's certainly improved. There's always things that we can do better, but we got contributions from everybody."
Now that the Texans have made the aforementioned leap from lousy to good, the next step is going from good to great, but in order to do so, they'll need to navigate the challenges of the offseason, including potentially losing contributors to free agency.
"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."
Specifically, the Texans will need to make crucial decisions about what to do with Ed Ingram and Trent Brown, who will both be free agents this March. Given Brown's age and injury history, it wouldn't be surprising to see Houston let him walk. Losing Ed Ingram would be a far more difficult departure to have to stomach.
Ingram is coming off the best season of his four-year NFL career, and considering what the Texans gave up to acquire him (a 6th round pick), his contract ($3.4 million in 2025), and how well he played (Ingram was ranked 12th among 80 qualified guards, according to Pro Football Focus), it's fair to say he was one of the most valuable and important players on the Texans roster in 2025.
In order to keep Ingram, the Texans will need to be prepared to pony up more than $3.4 million annually for the 26-year-old guard. Ingram won't come close to resetting the market, nor will he likely approach that $20 million per year threshold that only three guards in the NFL have hit, but it's completely reasonable to expect that Ingram will be given a contract that pays him somewhere in the ballpark of $10 million annually.
The only question is, will the Texans be that team?