With the way that this past season ended, it was pretty clear that the Houston Texans needed to rework much of their offense. Well, they successfully accomplished that…in about ten minutes.
Rick Smith went to work and didn’t hold anything back, bringing in the top QB on the free agent market, Brock Osweiler, for a four-year, 72 million dollar contract, with 37 million of it guaranteed.
The Texans didn’t stop there. Houston needed to bolster the run game as well as replace Arian Foster. They did just that by bringing in Miami Dolphins running back Lamar Miller. If that name sounds 
familiar to Texans fans, it should. Miller is the guy who torched the Texans for 175 yards on 14 carries in the Dolphins rout of the Texans this past season.
I think it’s safe to say that the Texans aren’t messing around anymore. This is a team that is capable of great things, and it looks like they’re tired of coming up just short. Not even one day into the new NFL year, and it looks like the Texans mean business.
The major critique of this team was that their offense was lacking. The common analytical theme for the Texans has been, “if they could just get an offense that doesn’t let down their defense, watch out.”
Now before we get too excited, let’s get some perspective. Osweiler’s entire NFL resume as a starter spans seven games, with a 5-2 record and an 11-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He showed some serious signs of promise, and performed pretty well against solid competition like the Patriots. However, for the majority of his time on the field he looked average or slightly above average.
Miller has proven he can be a strong starting back, which will help Osweiler, but he needs work. That being said, time behind Peyton Manning as well as under Gary Kubiak and Bill O’Brien could prove to do wonders for the 25-year-old quarterback.
Of course, none of that matters if the Texans don’t improve their offensive line. Smith and the Texans organization made good strides towards fixing that problem, too, signing Kansas City Chiefs guard Jeff Allen and Oakland Raiders center Tony Bergstrom. These are all very good things.
Work remains to be done, but this is a bold, strong start to the offseason for the Texans, as well as a statement that squeaking out a division title is no longer enough. This team and this organization wants more.
