The arrival of C.J. Stroud flipped the fortunes for the Houston Texans, who have made it to the postseason in each of the last two years, winning a playoff game both times as well. However, over the last season and the first five weeks of this year, the team has been starkly different on both sides of the football. While dominating defensively, the team’s offense has been an unmitigated disaster.
Some of the blame falls on Stroud himself, while a plethora of injuries to his wide receiver room haven’t helped matters. The biggest slice of the pie, though, comes to the offensive line, which has consistently been among the worst units in the league. Last year, they were able to find some firepower with an exceptional year from Joe Mixon.
But with his injury keeping him out of action so far, one analyst has a different running back in mind to fix Houston’s problem.
Could One Trade Fix the Houston Texans’ Offense?
Compared to last season, the offense has seen some improvement. But that might be a result of the last two weeks, where the Texans have had an easy task of putting up points against the Tennessee Titans and the Baltimore Ravens.
Ranking 19th in the league on PFSN’s Offense Impact through five weeks, it is light years ahead of the 27th-placed finish they had last season on the same metric. However, for a team that wants to take the next step as a playoff contender, those numbers aren’t enough.
As a result, Josh Weil of PFSN believes their best chance of finding success on that side of the football is by making a change at the running back spot. So far this year, Nick Chubb has handled lead back responsibilities for Houston.
Tallying 249 rushing yards on 58 carries, he has been mediocre, ranking 31st on PFSN’s RB Impact. For Weil, that is an area that can clearly see improvement. In his list of trade targets for every NFL team, he labeled Alvin Kamara from the New Orleans Saints as the perfect candidate to take over from Chubb in the Houston lineup.
“He has been the center of the Saints’ offense since the day he was drafted, and it would be awesome to get the stout defense some help on the offensive side of the ball sooner than later.” Kamara could provide that help in spades.
The five-time Pro Bowler has 283 yards on the ground while adding 77 more through the air. He stands a few steps ahead of Chubb on RB Impact, ranking 22nd in the league. But for Houston, that jump might be all they need as a contender.
As Well puts it, “This team has all the makings to go on a run if they get some help on offense.”