Make no mistake about it, the Houston Texans have had a stellar free agency period and are fully ready to make a Super Bowl push in 2024. Somehow, the Texans dug themselves out of the Deshaun Watson debacle and have come out looking like a truly elite team in the present and future. Led by rookie QB CJ Stroud and rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans, the Texans shocked the NFL world by going 10-7 in the 2023 NFL Season.
In fact, in May of 2023 on withthefirstpick.com, I tried to warn readers about the Houston Texans in the 2023 season:
"I think the Houston Texans are better than people think and seven wins seems perfect to me. DeMeco Ryans is going to coach up a top-12 defense and the offense will begin to slowly put the pieces together.Lou Scataglia
Watch out for the Texans in 2024."
Sure, they won 10 games, but their defense ended up being the 11th-ranked unit in football, and just made some outstanding additions this offseason. Texans GM Nick Caserio is truly not messing around, as evidenced by his FA haul thus far:
-Joe Mixon, RB
-Danielle Hunter, EDGE
-Denico Autry, DL
-Azeez Al-Shaair, LB
-CB Jeff Okudah
These five notable players were external free agent signings, and the Texans also took care of some of their in-house guys like TE Dalton Schultz, CB Desmond King, K Ka'imi Fairbairn, and S Eric Murray.
And even though the Texans traded a first-round pick for this year's draft, they still have a first round pick in April, as it originally belonged to the Cleveland Browns and was sent over as part of the Deshaun Watson trade. When a team has a stud quarterback on a rookie deal, this is exactly the path to take. The Texans have made high-quality free agent decisions and have the money to do so, as Stroud won't have to be paid for a few years.
And seeing as they went 10-7 last year with a rookie QB and head coach, I don't see how this team can't make a Super Bowl push in 2024. The 2016 Philadelphia Eagles had a rookie HC in Doug Pederson and rookie QB in Carson Wentz. They won the Super Bowl in 2017.
The 2020 Cincinnati Bengals had a young head coach in Zac Taylor and a rookie QB in Joe Burrow. In 2021, they made it to the Super Bowl. The Houston Texans are ready to be this team and have officially put the NFL on notice.