While I was at Houston Texans training camp on Saturday, one thing really stood out to me about rookie tight end Marlin Klein. When the players entered the field to the excitement of a roaring audience, I took a look at Klein and thought to myself, "Man, that guy is built like a tank."
Standing at 6-foot-6 and having a wingspan measuring roughly 80 inches (6-feet, 8 1/8 inches), Klein has an opportunity to be a matchup nightmare against any defensive back or linebacker that he finds himself matchup against on a down-by-down basis. Then, it got me to thinking about the rest of the offense and how the Texans legitimately have a unit that could exploit that same advantage across the board if they so chose to make it a priority.
NFL defenses can disguise coverages, send intense blitz packages, bracket cover your best receiver or make life hard for receivers by pressing them right off the line of scrimmage. However, there are two offensive weapons that neither can be coached, nor can be schemed against consistently. They are speed and height, in which case Houston all of a sudden has plenty of the latter to throw at secondaries around the league.
The Houston Texans have a height advantage they can exploit in a major way in 2026
At the time of writing, Houston has a plethora of offensive weapons that clear the 6-foot-4 mark. They are:
Wide receivers
- Nico Collins (6-foot-4)
- Jayden Higgins (6-foot-4)
Tight Ends
- Dalton Schultz (6-foot-5)
- Foster Moreau (6-foot-4)
- Marlin Klein (6-foot-6)
By my count, that makes at least five players who'll be rotating on and off the field throughout the course of an NFL game that offer Houston a "mouse in the house"-like opportunities when faced with defensive resistance in key situations. When the average height of an NFL defensive back is roughly 6-feet, along with it being roughly 6-foot-2-inches for linebackers, the Texans should be salivating over what they can accomplish from a stature standpoint alone.
As started earlier in this article, speed and height are two things that neither can be taught or consistently schemed against. Especially in situations like red zone, goal line, short yardage and 3rd-and-short, these are weapons that can be the deciding edge when answers are hard to find elsewhere.
The Texans have their first chance to exploit that advantage in week one against the Buffalo Bills from Reliant Stadium. In combing through Buffalo's linebackers and defensive backs, only linebacker Greg Rousseau eclipses the 6-foot-6 mark. Aside from him, the next tallest player among the eight remaining intermediate to deep defenders would be strong safety Cole Bishop, who's listed at 6-foot-2-inches.
It remains to be seen how much offensive coordinator Nick Caley will lean into this reality in the 2026. Hopefully, it becomes a prominent weapon for an offense looking to change the narrative on how impactful it can be as a legitimate piece to a Super Bowl-winning formula in Houston.
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