NFL history: The Mount Rushmore of every NFL franchise

Houston Texans: J.J. Watt, Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, Deshaun Watson

The youngest team in the NFL, the Houston Texans inaugural season was 2002, but it was known well before that there needed to be a team in this town. One of the better football cities, it was home to the Houston Oilers from 1960 through 1996. After that, the team was moved to Nashville and eventually became the Tennessee Titans.

Unlike the Cleveland Browns following their move to Baltimore, Houston didn’t keep its football history. That means there’s not a lot of history to look through to find their Mount Rushmore — but there are two incredibly easy choices in J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson.

Watt, the Texans’ No. 1 pick in 2011, has won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year and twice led the league in sacks. He also had a resurgent season in 2018. Following two years of injuries, Watt returned to the field and had 16 sacks.

As for Johnson, he was the first superstar the team had. He was one of the best wideouts in the entire NFL for a long stretch and finished his Houston career with 1,012 receptions for 13,597 yards and 64 touchdowns.

All those numbers have him atop the team’s leaderboards, but it may not stay that way for long, considering the pace DeAndre Hopkins is playing at. Hopkins ended up taking over for Johnson and he now sits high on the list of best receivers in the game today.

The final spot goes to an incredibly young player in Deshaun Watson. The first true franchise quarterback for the Texans, Watson has 45 touchdown passes and just 17 picks in his first two seasons. It’s not often a player this early in his career can earn this honor, but his hot start mixed with their limited history is the perfect storm for this inclusion.