The Houston Texans shocked the football world with their performance in the 2023 season. They came out of nowhere to win the AFC South title, accelerating a rebuild that many expected would be multiple seasons.
Their presence was announced with a dominant win over the Cleveland Browns during Super Wild Card Weekend. For the first half of the divisional round against the Baltimore Ravens the Texans played well, but they were blown out in the second half.
Heading into the offseason program, a lot of eyes will be on Houston. Was 2023 a fluke, or is this a team built for sustained success and ready to make noise in the AFC for years? Only time will tell, but until the regular season rolls around, there are a few questions that still need to be answered.
Paramount among them, in the opinion of Matt Holder of Bleacher Report, is who the team’s starting center will be. The team is taking a huge risk with second-year player Juice Scruggs penciled in as the starter currently.
In 2023, Scruggs played in only nine games because of injury, which is concerning. But, all those snaps came at left guard, as lack of experience as the offensive line anchor could undo the entire offense.
But, in the early going of OTAs, the 2023 second-round pick out of Penn State has made a positive impression. Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 shared a quote from head coach DeMeco Ryans praising the work of Scruggs to this point.
“Juice is looking great,” Ryans said. “He’s been here for most of the offseason. Even before we started our offseason program Juice was here working out with our strength staff. You can see the growth. You can see he’s a little stronger, looks better. I’m encouraged where Juice is right now.”
The Houston Texans have the pieces in place to be one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. Quarterback C.J. Stroud is a star in the making and the team added Stefon Diggs to a wide receiver group that already had Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Robert Woods.
Tight end Dalton Schultz remains productive and the team added veteran Joe Mixon to lead the backfield with Dameon Pierce. But, the offensive line is key. If Scruggs struggles in his transition to center, the team needs to find a solution as that weakness could undo the entire unit.
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