If offense and defense were kids in Houston, the offense would be the golden child and the defense would be the forgotten middle stepchild.
Despite investing three first-round picks, two second-round picks and a third-round pick on offense last off-season the Texans didn’t have significant statistical improvement in 2019. Below is the data.
Yards per-game:
2018: 362 (15th)
2019:362 (13th)
Rushing yards per-game:
2018: 126 (8th)
2019: 125 (9th)
Passing yards per-game:
2018: 236 (17th)
2019: 236 (15th)
Points per-game:
2018: 25 (11th)
2019: 23.5 (14th)
3rd down % per-game:
2018: 37% (20th)
2019: 43.5% (8th)
Here’s where the Texans defense ranked in 2019 in six of the most often used statistics to measure defensive production.
I could say losing DJ Reader makes stopping the run more difficult, but that would also be an opinion. This is about facts.
Here’s J.J. Watt talking about what Reader brought to the defense against the run and the pass.
For the sake of this exercise we’ll consider premier draft equity picks in the first three rounds, or first two days of the draft.
Below is the amount of premier draft picks the Texans have used on offense and defense since the 2019 draft.
* Acquired the third sent to Oakland in the Jadeveon Clowney trade from Seattle. Also acquired a second from Arizona in the Hopkins trade and a fourth from LA in the Brandin Cooks trade.
Charles Omenihu (5th round) and Lonnie Johnson (2nd round) are the only returning players from the 2019 Draft who play defense.
Tytus Howard (1st), Max Scharping (2nd), Kahale Warring (3rd) and Cullen Gillaspia (7th) all play offense.
Below are the players brought in on each side of the ball along with the financial investment.
Cooks
- Financial investment: $8 million from team in 2020. About $12 million annually from 2021-2023 (non-guaranteed).
David Johnson
- Financial investment: $10+ million from team in 2020, $2 million guaranteed in 2021.
Randall Cobb
- Financial investment: Three years $27 million, $18 million guaranteed
Brent Qvale
- Financial investment: One-year near minimum salary
Defense:
- Eric Murray
Financial investment: Three years, $18 million, $10.75 million guaranteed
- Jaylen Watkins
Financial investment: Two years, $3 million
- Timmy Jernigan
Financial investment: One year up to $3.75 million
Below are departures on each side of the ball.
Offense:
- Hopkins
- Taiwan Jones
Defense:
- D.J. Reader
- Jahleel Addae
- Barkevious Mingo
- Jonathan Joseph
Rather than ignoring their defensive struggles after the 2018 season the Kansas City Chiefs focused on fixing that side of the ball. Below are the investments they made to fix their defense during the offseason before they won the Super Bowl.
Four of the five free agents the Chiefs signed in the 2019 offseason played defense.
Cornerback Bashaud Breeland, safety Tyrann Mathieu, defensive lineman Alex Okafor and linebacker Damien Wilson were all signed to help the defense.
The Chiefs also traded for defensive end Frank Clark, defensive lineman Emmanuel Ogbah and linebacker Darron Lee.
The Chiefs obviously won the Super Bowl, but her are the improvements they made defensively from 2018 to 2019.
2018: 31st in yards per-game (405.5) and allowed 26.3 points per-game (24th)
2019: 17th in yards per-game (349.6) and allowed 19.3 points per-game (7th)
How does the Texans defense improve in 2020? Most of the salary cap money has been invested on the offensive side of the ball, there’s no first-round pick and Reader is now in Cincinnati.
Do the Texans strike gold in the draft and revamp their defense without a first rounder?
Does improvement come from within through players currently on the roster?
Does first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver emerge as one of the best coordinators in the game?
Do all the investments spent on the offense pay off and the offense carries the defense in 2020?
So many questions, so many facts, so much neglect.