Houston Texans: Offensive Line

You may have noticed something of a theme in the first half of this piece: For more than a few NFL teams, the trenches are the biggest area of need with the offseason winding down. It’s a position group that’s as important as it is difficult to remedy.

At the very top of the list of NFL teams hard-up up front is the Houston Texans, who allowed 54 sacks in 2017.

Only the Indianapolis Colts allowed more.

The Texans whiffed on the big-name free agents on the offensive line, and with no first- or second-round pick in the draft, the best the Texans could do in that regard was Martinas Rankin, a tweener prospect whose best fit may well be as a “swing” reserve.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale

Houston will be putting a lot of confidence in a Day 3 pick (second-year pro Julie’n Davenport), an underachieving free-agent add (Seantrel Henderson, who came over from Buffalo) and a menagerie of replacement-level talents to protect Deshaun Watson this season.

Good thing the kid’s mobile.

He’s going to need those wheels.cheap nfl nike jersey

Prior to the NFL draft, there was essentially a tie for the Indianapolis Colts’ biggest problem area in 2018.

Both the offensive and defensive lines needed work—quite a lot of it.

The former got a big boost on April 26 with the selection of Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson, whom some pundits considered the top overall prospect in this year’s class.

The defensive line, on the other hand, didn’t get a ton of assistance. The Colts added some help in the form of second-round pick Tyquan Lewis, but the former Ohio State star was a rotational player with the Buckeyes who will probably need time to get his sea legs in the NFL.cheap nfl jerseys china nike

That leaves Jabaal Sheard and Denico Autry as the front-runners to start on Indy’s new four-man front. Sheard’s the more proven of the two. Twice he’s notched at least eight sacks in a season, but he’s never hit double digits. Autry had five sacks for the Oakland Raiders a year ago, but that’s the high-water mark of his career.nike nfl jerseys cheap china

If you can’t pressure the quarterback in today’s NFL, you’re going to get carved up.

Right now, it doesn’t look like a Colts team that was last in the AFC in sacks last year is going to make a leap forward in that regard.