The Houston Texans lose Tyus Howard but may have upgraded in the process

The Houston Texans got some bad news on Wednesday when it was revealed that starting left guard Tytus Howard will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury. Howard went down fairly early into the Jacksonville Jaguars game on Sunday, being replaced by rookie Juice Scruggs. Howard, who suffered a knee injury, will undergo surgery and is done for the year.

But this may be a blessing in disguise. Howard, who is usually a tackle, has struggled all season as the team's starting left guard, to the point where he was graded at just a 46.8 by PFF. That's a pretty low score and honestly, it was a surprise that Houston Texans head coacch DeMeco Ryans played him as long gas he did at the position. He was clearly struggling and while ESPN claims this is a "serious setback" for the Houston Texans, that's far from the truth.

Howard was not playing well, and with the return of the rookie Scruggs from an injury, he presented an opportunity to upgrade the position in the wake of Howard's injury. Scruggs already had a better game against the Jaguars in relief than Howard had all season, according to PFF. Howard didn't have a score over 57.5, Scruggs in relief, racked up a 60.9 score, significantly higher than Howard was putting up on a weekly basis.

Even if this is the best Scruggs can be, which we don't think is the case, this is still a massive improvement for the remainder of the season. Right now Scrugggs is not only trying to retain his spot going forward for the rest of the season, but earn this spot heading into next season. If that doesn't end up happening, however, and Scruggs doesn't improve as he's expected to, drafting another guard could very likely happen.