The Difficulty in Making Changes on the Texans’ Beleaguered Offensive Line

Seven games in, the Houston Texans sit at 5-2, which is a really good place to be, considering it’s their best record to start a season since 2012. Despite the solid overall record, there are still areas for Texans fans to worry about, if indeed this team aspires to compete for a Super Bowl. The offensive line is one of those areas.

Hell, most Texan fans are just hoping the offensive line won’t get C.J. Stroud killed, let alone prevent a Super Bowl appearance. Sunday’s loss to Green Bay, which saw the offensive line allow relentless pressure from the Packers defense on Stroud, along with a near record setting ELEVEN tackles for loss in the run game, was the last straw for many fans.

I host the team’s postgame radio show, as well as my own four hour weekday show on SportsRadio 610, and the question we get asked most often is “Can we please just trade [FILL IN NAME OF OFFENSIVE LINEMAN HERE] and move on?” Most often, it’s Laremy Tunsil that fans want to see shipped out, but others are catching heat, too.

In the NFL, it’s not as simple as just trading a guy for the sake of trading him. The salary cap has real ramifications in these situations, especially with guys like Tunsil, Tytus Howard and Shaq Mason, who’ve all signed big extensions within the last year or so.

So let’s try to get those of you who have that itchy trigger finger on the “trade this guy” gun a bit more informed. Here is how attached the Texans are contractually and emotionally to each of their five starting offensive linemen. I’ll preface this by saying that none of them are getting traded or cut in 2024, so even addressing that possibility is a waste of space.

LT: LAREMY TUNSIL (CONTRACT)
2025: $28.9M cap hit, $25M dead money
Tunsil is public enemy number one on the offensive line for fans, even as he has done a nice job of cleaning up the barrage of penalties he was committing earlier this season. If the Texans were to move on from Tunsil in a trade next offseason — they would never cut him, he has too much value — they would save around $4 million against the cap in 2025. I think it’s more likely that Tunsil plays out this deal, and the Texans move on after 2026.

LG: KENYON GREEN (CONTRACT)
2025: $5.1M cap hit, $5.1M dead money
Next year would be the fourth year of Green’s rookie contract, so the big question surrounding Green this coming offseason is whether the Texans opt into Green’s fifth year option in 2026. I would guess right now there is no way they will commit to another year of Green after 2025 right now. Imminently, Green is the one guy on this line who could be replaced as soon as next week, if the coaches choose.

C: JUICE SCRUGGS (CONTRACT)
2025: $1.7M cap hit, $0.7M dead money
Scruggs in the second year of his rookie deal, his first year as a full time center, and he is going nowhere. The Texans moving on from Scruggs is not even worth speculating about.

RG: SHAQ MASON (CONTRACT)
2025: $14.7M cap hit, $12.5 dead money
Mason has been the one player out of this group the team can count on to be available. Now, if he could just play better, that would be sweet! Like Tunsil, the team would experience a cap savings of a couple million bucks if they move on from him, in trade or a release, after the season.

RT: TYTUS HOWARD (CONTRACT)
2025: $23.1 M cap hit, $21.1M dead money
Howard is the one guy here who I think could be gone after this season. The Texans drafted right tackle Blake Fisher out of Notre Dame for a reason. I never understood the extension the Texans gave Howard, and he most certainly does not play like a highly paid tackle. I could see the team taking the $2 million cap savings, plugging in Fisher, and moving on in 2025.

Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.