Did PFF give the Houston Texans a fair grade for the offseason?

The Houston Texans were quite busy this offseason. They overhauled their defense in free agency, letting linebacker Blake Cashman and defensive end Jonathan Greenard leave without new contracts. Then they essentially replaced them with linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and defensive end Danielle Hunter. They also boldly chose to trade for Joe Mixon and Stefon Diggs.

The rest of the free agency period was met with some good re-signings (Dalton Schultz) and low-risk, high-reward picks (Jeff Okudah). Overall, it was an off-season where the team got better on paper. Then we had the draft where the Texans picked up help for the secondary in two of the first three picks, while also addressing the offensive line.

Productive would be the word to describe the offseason. So when it was all said and done, how did the "experts" rank the Texans' improvements? Pro Football Focus (PFF) said the Texans had a "B+" offseason. PFF's Trevor Sikkema would go on to say about the club;

""I was worried about the Texans losing Jonathan Greenard in free agency, which did happen. However, they replaced him with Danielle Hunter, a huge plus.

I also liked the addition of Azeez Al-Shaair and the decision to trade for Joe Mixon to replace Devin Singletary. Folorunso Fatukasi, Denico Autry and Jeff Okudah were all solid new players to get into the depth chart, too.

Houston followed it up with a solid draft of Kamari Lassiter, Blake Fisher and Calen Bullock. The team continues to trend in the right direction.""

I agree with the "B+" grade. While Sikkema doesn't detail why it's the grade he gave him, I think some reasons help paint that picture.

The first would be the running back situation. Mixon may still have some gas in the tank but Singletary was a better option. Not to mention the team missed out on Saquon Barkley, the prize of the free agency period. They lost out on Barkley due to money, and nothing else. Then the Texans, in desperation, traded for Mixon hours before he would have been released. In essence, wasting a draft pick to get a free agent.

Then there's the issue of the defensive tackle group. A group that is still largely not put together very well got little to no help this offseason. Not even in the NFL Draft. The unit may be improved from year to year simply due to coaching but there was no major addition that would make us think things would be better.

Lastly, the Stefon Diggs trade. Not the trade itself, as he should still be near or at a Pro Bowl level, but the price (a second-round draft pick) and the decision to void the last three years of his contract. That, coupled with the Nico Collins contract extension has us all wondering if Digg is one-and-done in Houston. And if he is, why did they opt to trade so much to get so little?