The Houston Texans are a top-heavy team, filled with future, current, and former Pro Bowl players. The team is riddled with A-List level talent throughout many positions, but not every position has such a pedigree. The Texans aren't loaded end to end with high-profile talent. In fact, some of the positions on the team may be filled by relative unknowns.
The Texans drafted a bunch of guys this year, and as the 2024 NFL Draft came to a close, it became evident that some of those rookies will likely get a lot of playing time. Just how much playing time will be anyone's guess. So we're looking at five rookies who can you expect to get some playing time this season, ranking from the least amount to the most that we would expect to see them play.
5. TE Cade Stover
Cade Stover is coming in primarily as a blocker for the Houston Texans. He'll likely have to work to develop his pass-catching skillset, and as he was the former tight end for C.J. Stroud at Ohio State, the two will likely have some chemistry already built in. Still, he's not on Dalton Schultz's level, at least not yet, so don't expect Stover to come in as tight end number one.
While Stover is not the complete package like Schultz is, he is almost as good at blocking as Schultz. So we can expect to see a lot of two-tight-end sets being run. With the future of fullback Andrew Beck up in the air, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to see Stover also take on a bit of an H-Back role. We expect to see a lot of Stover in 2024, even if he's not deemed a starter. With the fact that the Texans have four viable wide receivers right now, not to mention the addition of Ben Skowronek, it's entirely possible that we don't see much of Stover as previously thought when he was drafted.
Still, Stover is going to make an impact.