Houston, We Have Less Problems
The Texans’ rookie class looks primed to help the team leapfrog Tennessee for supremacy in the weak AFC South.

Thursday night of the 2017 NFL Draft was all about quarterbacks. Well, quarterbacks, and the ability and willingness of multiple front offices to make extreme gambles and trade up to select said quarterbacks. To start the night off, the Bears gave up 2017 third and fourth round picks, in addition to a 2018 3rd round pick to move up one spot from №3 to №2 to take UNC QB Mitchell Trubisky with varying levels of approval from Chicago’s finest.
Just eight picks later, the Chiefs made a similar gamble by giving up two first-rounders (’17 and ’18) and a third rounder to move up 17 spots. At the time, most thought it would be to take Clemson QB Deshaun Watson, but instead, the pick was Texas Tech gunslinger Pat Mahomes II. This move (likely) sent spine-tingling nervousness and panic down the thoracic curve of Texans’ VP of football operations and general manager Rick Smith, leading to the making of his own deal. By bundling their first round picks in both 2017 and 2018, Houston was able to send the ever-important-for-Cleveland draft capital to the Browns in order to move up thirteen spots to select the previously-mentioned Watson.
When combined with the less-than-spectacular play of both the recently-acquired Brock Osweiler and 2014 fourth round pick Tom Savage during the 2016 season, it was expected that Watson was being drafted to be the final piece to bring the Texans’ back into (or into for the first time) serious contention for the honor of which team will lose to the Patriots in the AFC Championship. But after this Tuesday’s announcement by Bill O’Brien that Tom Savage will remain the team’s starting quarterback, Watson may have to wait to join the elite company of Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, and (kind of) Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to ever win both a national championship and a Super Bowl title. Oh, and Cam Newton!
Oh, no he didn’t…apologies — we’ll have to get on the stats team back at BCO headquarters to work on that.
Even though Watson won’t have the immediate impact of being the team’s starting signal caller in week one of the NFL season, both the backfields and linebacking core for the Texans should see significant improvement from first-year players getting significant playing time.
For starters, D’Onta Foreman has been an absolute stud so far over the course of the preseason. While this shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone that follows college football in the slightest, after being the seventh running back taken overall and falling down to the third round, the expectations weren’t the highest for the 2016 Doak Walker Award winner.
“That’s the second preseason game,” O’Brien said (regarding Foreman). “I know we’ve got him getting measured for a bust in Canton, but I would say that he’s got a long way to go.”
Although Coach Bill O’Brien came out this week and was quoted as saying, “He’s got a lot of talent, but I think he’s got a long way to go”, the key takeaway from that, in my eyes, was the part where the offensive guru head coach said ‘He’s got a lot of talent’. Foreman is currently third on the Texans depth chart behind bonafide NFL talents in Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue, but after finishing his first NFL preseason game with nine carries for 76 yards, and following that up with a game against the Patriots in which he showed tremendous play-making ability, it’ll be hard to keep Foreman off the field.
This is a man that is 6'0" and 235 lbs. He ran for over 2,000 yards during his last college season. And he moves like THAT. Foreman will find his way into significant carries for the Texans, and will more than likely be the rookie that provides that most immediate impact. This becomes even more evident when you look at Lamar Miller’s current preseason numbers (2 carries for 0 yards in the first preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, and 18 yards on 7 touches versus the Patriots) and the fact that Blue has become dependent on yoga and pilates to up his game. Let Tom Brady handle the pliability and Himalayan pink salts, and you stick to not losing your job to a rookie, Alfred.
On the defensive side of the ball, Romeo Crennel and Mike Vrabel have got a pair of stud linebackers that have been showed their abilities off during the first half of the preseason. The first of these was expected by many, (or at least by many writers here at Ball Control Offense) as he was a unanimous 1st Team All-American in 2016 and led the SEC in tackles by a large margin. This, of course, is former Vanderbilt stud Zach Cunninigham. So far during the preseason, other than a few perfectly run routes by Patriots running backs DJ Foster and Rex Burkhead that led to touchdown receptions, Cunningham has been producing at the weak-side linebacker spot, and providing an aurora of athleticism that isn’t available on the Texans’ roster, with oft-injured 30-year old Brian Cushing (no more roids for you!) and 6'5" 245 lb oaf Benardrick McKinney being the other two options. That was one hell of a sentence, huh?
So far in games against Carolina and New England, Cunningham has been all over the field and has had a nice seven tackles in each contest. Like I said back in June, Cunningham should be able to use his speed to cover tight ends and running backs when necessary, which has been a major weak spot for the Texans in recent years.
While Cunningham’s success right off-the-bat may have been expected, the success of un-drafted rookie free agent Dylan Cole probably wasn’t my most…maybe not even by himself. Cole went to Missouri State and was named a FCS All-American by seven different organizations. Although he wasn’t invited to the 2017 NFL Combine, his 32 reps on the 225-pound bench press and 39-inch vertical during his Pro Day would have both been tops among linebackers at the 2017 NFL Combine. When those types of measurables (not to mention his 4.52 in the 40-yard dash) are paired with the type of production (led all FCS players in total tackles per game (12.9) and was second nationally in solo tackles per game with 7.7) and brains (Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Team honors for three straight seasons) that Cole possess, it’s both hard to see how he went un-drafted, and easy to see why he could find success on an NFL roster.
Cole finished this past weekend’s victory over the New England Patriots with a team-high 10 total tackles, with five solo tackles, and one pass defended. He’s by no means a lock to make Houston’s final 53-man roster, but if he does, he could be another great story and another great player that makes you question how a guy like this slips through the cracks and out of sight of the eyes of watchful NFL personnel departments.
Deshaun Watson may not get the immediate opportunity to be the savior of the Houston Texans’ franchise, but he probably will at some point down the line (my guess: his first start will be at home versus the Cleveland Browns on October 15), and for the time being, his fellow rookies will hold down the fort and make sure Rick Smith looks like he knows what he’s doing. The AFC is weak outside of Foxborough, MA, and the Texans look primed to take advantage.