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Maybe the Houston Texans really did needed to take a stick of dynamite to their offensive line.
The line was horrible last season, a big reason C.J. Stroud regressed from a magical rookie season. A report from SI.com said the offensive line room was “borderline toxic,” and behind-the-scenes strife like that leads to moves that don’t make a lot of sense on the surface. But teams know what they have to do.
So the Texans tearing apart the line — they cut Shaq Mason and traded Laremy Tunsil and Kenyon Green, all starters in 2024, though Green was benched in midseason — might not be an imprudent idea. But what is the Texans’ plan to protect Stroud this season?
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Free agency has been picked through. That’s true of all positions, but especially the offensive line. Guard Laken Tomlinson was signed by the Texans, but the modest $4 million deal says he’s not a top-end starter anymore. Mason and Tunsil weren’t coming off their best seasons, but at least they were competent pros. There’s nobody left in free agency who is an upgrade over them.
Teams like the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears invested heavily in the offensive line. The Washington Commanders paid up to trade for Tunsil. The New England Patriots signed tackle Morgan Moses. The Tennessee Titans spent a ton on offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr., and their quarterback probably isn’t even on the roster yet.
All of those teams have young star quarterbacks (or, in the Titans’ case, are likely to add Cam Ward in the draft) and the rule of thumb is to make sure they are protected. Stroud, who had a historic rookie season, was sacked 52 times last season and led the NFL with 274 dropbacks under pressure, via Pro Football Focus. He completed just 46.8% of his passes under pressure with a 69.7 passer rating, via PFF.
Stroud faced more pressure than anyone in the NFL, played poorly when pressured, and the Texans responded to that by getting rid of three linemen (including a five-time Pro Bowler in Tunsil) and spending just $4 million on the position in the first few days of free agency. It’s scary to think the Texans landed on a potentially generational talent at quarterback and don’t know how to help him.
The Texans will draft some linemen. They’re clearly expecting a lot more from tackle Blake Fisher, a 2024 second-round pick. There’s still time for them to add a second-level lineman or two in free agency. It could all work out.
But if it doesn’t look any better next season, the Texans deserve some heat. They have a special player in Stroud. But to get the most out of him, they need to make sure he isn’t on his back for half of this season.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from the early flurry of moves in NFL free agency:
NFL free agency winners
Caleb Williams: Williams is living the life Stroud should have. The Chicago Bears are doing whatever they can to put him in a position to succeed.
They tried last season too, adding to the skill positions, but forgot about the offensive line. That changed this offseason, with trades for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and then signing center Drew Dalman. Of course, the Bears invested in getting Williams one of the best play-callers in football, Ben Johnson, to be his next head coach.
The Bears made some mistakes last season when it came to Williams, but it’s hard to get everything right in a year. They’ve turned over every stone to get it right this season. The only downside for Williams is that if he doesn’t have a pretty big improvement this season, there aren’t many excuses for it.
Pass rushers: Maxx Crosby has said he wants to win with the Las Vegas Raiders. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said he wanted out.
Money does solve a lot of unhappiness. And those two pass rushers got paid. The Raiders extended Crosby at $35.5 million per season, and then Garrett went all the way to $40 million per year. Suddenly, there was no more trade request. The biggest winner in those two moves might be Micah Parsons, who is going to be in that salary neighborhood soon.
There weren’t any other pass rushers available in free agency who could command that type of deal, but plenty got handsome contracts. Early on in free agency, Josh Sweat (Cardinals), Chase Young (return to Saints), Dayo Odeyingbo (Bears), Harold Landry (Patriots), Haason Reddick (Buccaneers), Joey Bosa (Bills), Malcolm Koonce (return to Raiders), Patrick Jones (Panthers) and Leonard Floyd (Falcons) all got deals worth at least $10 million per season. Odeyingbo and Jones have had modest production. Bosa and Koonce have injury issues. Reddick had a disastrous 2024 season. Young has 22 sacks in five seasons and 7.5 came when he was a rookie. They all still got paid. That trend won’t stop, either.
Los Angeles Rams: The Rams’ wins are twofold. They probably got better. Two of their main division rivals might have gotten worse.
A month ago, we didn’t know if Matthew Stafford would be back with the Rams. After all the posturing, he returned. And he’ll be throwing to Davante Adams, who might not still be at the peak of his powers but showed late last season he’s still pretty good. The Rams cut Cooper Kupp, who is a franchise legend, but for 2025, Adams is the better player.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers took some hits. They traded Deebo Samuel and lost players like Dre Greenlaw, Aaron Banks and Talanoa Hufanga in free agency without adding much. Brandon Aiyuk has also been (again) the subject of trade rumors. It’s hard to see how they’re better. The Seattle Seahawks might be better if Sam Darnold is a big upgrade over Geno Smith, but that’s no sure thing. And moving on from DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett thins out a receiving corps that was a strength of the team.
The Rams won the NFC West last season. They look like a pretty good bet to do it again.
NFL free agency losers
Detroit Lions: What the Lions did in free agency was fine. D.J. Reed was a very good signing, and came at a much lower cost than some of the other top cornerbacks on the market. They brought back Derrick Barnes, Marcus Davenport and Levi Onwuzurike to help the defense. They didn’t have the type of cap flexibility to make many other huge additions. It’s already a loaded roster.
The problem isn’t the Lions’ moves. It’s the moves elsewhere in their division. The Vikings and Bears were two clear winners in free agency, with both teams adding a lot to the offensive and defensive lines. The Packers added to their line too, signing guard Aaron Banks, and they had the youngest roster in the NFL last season. The Lions are a very good team, but the rest of the division all got better. That will make it a lot harder to get the No. 1 seed again, as they did last season.
Running backs: There was a running back renaissance last season, but that was due in large part to an unprecedented free-agent group at the position. This year, it was back to normal.
Najee Harris got a one-year deal worth more than $5 million to join the Los Angeles Chargers. Elijah Mitchell got a surprising $3.5 million deal to join the Chiefs. Nobody else got more than $3 million per season to switch teams, though Aaron Jones and Saquon Barkley got nice extensions.
The problem for some veteran running backs looking for new deals is this year’s draft class is deep at the position. That caused the market to dip. But more accurately, the market didn’t change. There just wasn’t any Barkley or Derrick Henry or Josh Jacobs this offseason to boost it up.
