The Houston Texans have spent the past several months pushing hard to strengthen their case for a run at the 2026 Super Bowl, and on paper they may be as close as they’ve ever been.
That’s the tension with this team now: the defense already looks like it belongs in the championship conversation, but the offense still has to prove it can keep pace. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer put it bluntly: "The Texans are in a championship window, without question, and the defense is already at that level. All the questions are on offense,"
Breer’s next point gets to the heart of the matter. "Can C.J.
Stroud, healthier this offseason than he was last, finally put the puzzle together? Can Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel build on big springs to supercharge the Nico Collins-centered receiver room?
And will Braden Smith, Wyatt Teller and Keylan Rutledge change the face of a line that’s been a problem the past two years? If the answers to those questions are yes, then this is a Super Bowl-level team."
That’s the blueprint, and it’s a pretty clear one. Year four of DeMeco Ryans has Houston in a strong place, with a winning season in each of his first three campaigns. The defense has held its elite level from 2025, and after three straight years of getting stopped at the doorstep of the AFC Championship, the group has the kind of experience that should matter when the pressure spikes.
Still, the offense is where the real uncertainty lives.
C.J. Stroud will naturally be the first name many point to after an up-and-down stretch the past two seasons.
His final postseason outing was rough, ending with four interceptions in snowy Foxborough. But the Texans’ issues went well beyond the quarterback spot last season.
The run game never found enough punch. It struggled on early downs and at the goal line, sat in the bottom 10 of the league on most metrics, and left Houston with less flexibility than it needed on offense.
The line improved in 2025 compared with the year before, but it still didn’t look like the kind of unit you’d expect from a true contender. Outside of Tytus Howard, who is now with the Cleveland Browns, and breakout guard Ed Ingram, the rest of the starting group had its share of trouble.
The receiving corps had a dependable centerpiece in Nico Collins, who delivered another 1,000-yard season. Dalton Schultz also turned in a strong year at tight end.
But once you moved beyond those two, Houston didn’t have the kind of depth that could hold up if injuries hit. That became obvious in the divisional round loss to the New England Patriots, when both Collins and Schultz were out of the picture.
That’s why the Texans attacked the offense so aggressively this offseason. They added David Montgomery to help the run game, brought in what could be three new starters on the offensive line, and are counting on second-year jumps from Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. All of it is meant to help Stroud, too.
In theory, it adds up to a roster that can finally match its defense and push Houston into true Super Bowl territory. But there’s still a wide gap between theory and proof.
If the offensive line keeps stumbling, or if veterans like Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith run into injury problems, the whole thing gets a lot shakier. If Higgins and Noel don’t make the leap, Stroud’s job gets tougher. And if Stroud doesn’t deliver in what amounts to a prove-it season, the conversation around this offense will get a lot more uncomfortable.
For now, the Texans have the kind of defense that can carry real championship expectations. The question is whether the offense is ready to meet it. If it is, Breer’s point rings true: the ceiling is right there.
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The production followed. Togiai posted the best numbers of his career and became a steady part of the Texans run support, which helped stabilize a group that leaned on multiple bodies throughout the season. The question now is how much of that role carries into 2026, because Houston has added more competition at the position and still has young depth waiting behind him. [Read more 🡒]