Houston Texans 2024: High Expectations & Key Players
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00:00All right. A team that I'm keeping an eye on are the Houston Texans. So let's go and have the
00:04conversation. You alluded to Joe Mixon being one of those running backs turning 30, going to a new
00:09team. I think Joe Mixon is the reason I'm so excited for the offensive ecosystem that you
00:15could read all about in the Black Book of the Houston Texans. Joe, talk to me.
00:21You know, that same league I was talking about earlier, I drafted C.J. Stroud last year in the
00:2512th round. Nobody believed in him, nobody wanted him. On this show, we talked about him over and
00:30over. He went in the first round, Matthew. He went in the first round, the top 10 picks. He
00:36went eight overall, I believe, or seven overall. So yeah. So C.J. Stroud even outperformed my
00:42expectations, which were significantly higher than most. And he had a great season. The
00:47difference with the Houston Texans now is it's fun to play the plucky underdog. You know,
00:52this was the transition the Lions had to make, right, last year, where, you know, you're the
00:55lovable losers and nobody thinks you can be there. And all of a sudden, you show up and you play hard
01:00and you make the playoffs, right? And then the Lions last year had to play with expectations.
01:03Now this year, the Houston Texans are the team that has to play with expectations.
01:06And that's going to be very fun to watch. Now, I think D'Amico Ryans is a great coach.
01:10I think that this defense is much better than people realize. The offensive line had some
01:14health issues early in the year. When they got healthy, this offense really kind of took off
01:18in the second half. And they've gone out and addressed some of the issues. Now, Damian Pierce
01:21was the RB of choice there, but then Devin Singletary kind of took over. It got muddy
01:25there. Pierce really struggled at times. So Joe Mixon comes in. But the real star to me of this
01:30offense is Nico Collins. I know Stephon Diggs is the bigger name. I know a lot of people are going
01:34to go to Stephon Diggs. Second half of Stephon Diggs was not good last year. And we have wide
01:38receivers 10 years in the league. This is what happens. Who else is 10 years in the league?
01:43De'Andre Hopkins, right? What's he got right now? Missing four to six weeks with an issue,
01:49with an injury. Now, I'm not saying he's going to miss all the time in the world. All I'm saying is
01:53you have to understand we've seen this happen time and time again with wide receivers when they hit
01:58about that 10 years in. You see decline. It's natural. It's the NFL. So I think Nico Collins
02:05proved last year that he is that dude. You see the projections here for him. 1138 yards,
02:11seven touchdowns. Again, I think that's basically off the floor of him. 78 catches.
02:17I think you're looking more like 85 to 89 catches. I think you're looking more like
02:21eight to 10 touchdown range for sure. And I know Tank Dell is there too, and he's a fun player,
02:26explosive player. They're going to be a lot to handle again. Dalton Schultz is going to get
02:31hurt the most by Stephon Diggs because there's just only so many mouths to feed in that offense
02:36you can get the ball to. And I think the one guy you can see maybe taking a step back if Diggs is
02:41healthy and Tank Dell is healthy, it's Schultz. Now, if one of those guys should have an injury
02:46or miss time, Schultz becomes a more interesting cog in this offense. But I still believe Nico
02:51Collins is that guy. ADP continues to agree he's being drafted as wide receiver 13. I think that's
02:56a great spot there. Still skeptical though about Joe Mixon at his age in the new roster. I think
03:00he can be good, but I don't want to overrate him either. I think that is a dangerous game to play
03:05in terms of the ADP. Again, Mixon, Jacobs, back-to-back 13 and 14. I'd rather wait and
03:12take from Andre Stevenson, maybe a James Conner a little cheaper and not have to make quite that
03:16investment in ADP.