A lot of Texans fans agree with their decision to rebuild the offensive line, considering it's been one of the most expensive yet least productive over the past couple of seasons.
Disagreement comes with exactly how they are rebuilding it. The greatest need on the o-line going into the offseason seemed to be the interior after parting ways with both guards, who played poorly. The center position has been a bit of a turnstile, too.
But the Texans have brought in journeyman who recently underachieved at those positions, which feels like more of the same.
General manager and executive vice president Nick Caserio was asked about these moves with a little more than a week until the NFL draft. Here's how he answered.
"We understand there will be turnover on the team," Caserio said. "There are certain players whose contracts will expire, some we'll keep, others are under contract and might be here and might not be here. We didn't go into the offseason and say, 'Okay, here are the things we're going to do'. Some of this you have to be adaptable and flexible and take the information in and make the decisions you feel are best for the football team, which is what we did. So there is never a, 'Well, this is what we're going to do, what we think is going to happen'. Some of that responded to the information around you and if we didn't make any changes, if we had to go into the season with the group that we had, then we would have done that. But that wasn't the case. Each case I would say was a little bit different. Each situation was a little bit different. But, yeah, I wouldn't say there was anything specifically we said there is what we're going to do and need to do.
"Then even moving forward, we feel good about the players in the building. Are we going to add some players we think can potentially help our football team? That's always the goal. Understanding the Draft is one opportunity. It's probably the biggest volume opportunity, which is why there is a heightened awareness and emphasis on it. We don't put more emphasis on the Draft than any other phase of the team building process. No different than free agency, than it is in training camp process, building the practice squad. We try to approach it the same way. We lost some players, moved on from some players at a lot of different positions. We've added some players at other players, including the offensive line. Once the players are here, once we have an opportunity get on the field, we'll see how it all fits together."
That wasn't all. There was a follow-up later about what changes need to be made on the line to get the results Houston is looking for.
"Yeah, we always look at everything," Caserio said. "You just try to, in the end, make the decisions that are in the best interest of the team. It's case by case. Each year will be a little bit different. Contracts are contracts. I mean, it's just part of the process. So we look at everything. If there is something we feel we can improve we'll look at that. If not, we keep moving forward. I don't think there is anything wholesale we feel like we have to do that much differently."
