Knowing how much to read into OTA news can be tricky. It's been a long time since there was any legitimate football being played, so it's hard not to blame people for jumping the gun when it comes to tiny morsels of news that come out of these offseason workouts.
Then again, a lot of what happens on these practice fields don't really matter. Right now is about getting in some preliminary installs and establishing "offseason" workouts, with the goal being that everyone's on the same page when the team reports to training camp in about two months.
But still – when both of the Texans starting offensive tackles aren't present for said workouts, there's always going to be a little bit of panic. Neither Tytus Howard or Laremy Tunsil have sat out of OTAs and minicamp, both while working back from various injuries. The Texans' offensive line is one of the bigger concerns heading into a year with huge expectations, so having both starting tackles still dealing with injury issues isn't exactly the best news to hear heading into the summer.
Texans insider gives huge update on offensive line worries at OTAs
Luckily, there's not much to read into. According to ESPN's Texans Insider D.J. Bien-Aime, everything's still going as planned in Houston:
"There's no concern for the Texans' offensive tackle duo. On the first day of mandatory minicamp, the Texans had full attendance as their highly touted playmakers in receiver Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs were on display. However, the Texans' highly paid right tackle (Tytus Howard) and left tackle (Laremy Tunsil) weren't practicing. Both are recovering from knee injuries. Tunsil had offseason surgery on his left knee even though he played 14 games in 2023. Howard played in seven games because of injuries before suffering a season-ending knee injury in late November.
The good news for the Texans is coach DeMeco Ryans says he expects Howard and Tunsil to be ready for training camp. "Those guys are battling back," Ryans said. "They both had surgery, so they're in our return to play group, and they're on the right track to be back and be ready for training camp."
Even with both of them being knee injuries, Ryans' "ready for training camp" declaration is music to our ears. Now let's just get through the rest of the offseason workouts without any major devastating injuries to offensive lineman, and the Texans will be in business.