Houston Texans: Can Nick Caserio resolve the offensive line issues?

The Texans once considered trading back from No. 15 overall in the 2022 draft.
They’d already traded back from No. 13. Three straight teams selected three wideouts, and general manager Nick Caserio picked up the phone. The Eagles agreed to move up two spots, and the Texans pocketed three extra picks.
Caserio then eyed the draft board at No. 15. He’d reveal to reporters later that night there was an opportunity to trade back to No. 20. But he decided against it.
“We just felt if we did that, we were probably going to lose a decent amount of players,” Caserio said then. “So in the end, we just felt like it made the most sense just to pick at 15.”
The Texans picked Kenyon Green.
Caserio intended to use the first-round selection to help bring an end to the hazardous offensive line situation he inherited in 2021. Instead, his decisions involving Green, who will sit out 2023 on injured reserve, have so far prolonged the issue.
The Texans do not know who their starting left guard will be for the Sept. 10 opener at Baltimore, and Caserio’s decision-making does not yet inspire confidence that the third-year executive can rectify the poor management by his predecessor that initially left the offensive line in shambles.
Bill O’Brien’s desperation to secure talent eventually destroyed the Texans’ depth across the roster. The former coach, who doubled as the team’s GM, packaged two first-round picks and a second-rounder in a 2019 deal with the Dolphins whose headliner was left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
The Texans had just spent a first-round pick on Tytus Howard and a second-rounder on Max Scharping under Brian Gaine (who was fired that June), and Scharping’s subsequent underperformance at left guard over the next three seasons, combined with Caserio’s initial salary cap-strapped budget and lack of first- and second-round picks, created a void along the interior offensive line, prompting the 2021 Texans to decide starting Howard (a right tackle) at left guard was their best available solution.
Caserio’s Wednesday statement that they’d “try to put the best five out there that give us the best chance against Baltimore” to start the regular season is the very same rhetoric the 2021 Texans used to rationalize playing Howard at left guard. Considering the current condition of Houston’s offensive line, it’s not out of the question to suggest the Texans believe Howard, who played left guard twice in 2022 while Green managed an ankle injury, could be their best option again in Baltimore.
It's still uncertain if Howard, who underwent surgery on his left hand Aug. 7, will officially return by the opener. Coach DeMeco Ryans, asked if Howard was a consideration at left guard, replied, “The only consideration for Tytus right now is for him to get healthy.” Howard would still face the challenge of learning how to play left guard in first-year offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik’s scheme. But it’s the same short-notice challenge Houston’s newly acquired linemen must also face, and they didn’t have Howard’s benefit of spending the offseason around the scheme.
It's a scenario Caserio could have avoided. He revealed Wednesday “we knew in May” that Green spending 2023 on the injured reserve list “was a possibility.” Green missed offseason workouts after undergoing minor knee surgery after his rookie season. But Green was also managing an injured left shoulder. Caserio said “we knew it was going to have to get fixed,” but instead of operating on the shoulder in May, they decided to “try to give an opportunity to see if he could be able to make it through” while playing with the injury.
Ryans said Green “pushed through” the injury during training camp. On Sunday against the Saints, Green surrendered a sack with the second-team offense, grasped his left shoulder, and visited the medical tent. He did not return to the preseason finale.
“We try to give the players the best opportunity without putting them at a disadvantage,” Caserio said. “Physically, if they’re able to endure, go through enough, if they can handle it — great. But if it gets to a point where it doesn’t allow a player to do their job at an effective level, in the end, you’ve got to make a determination. Instead of hemming and hawing about it, in the end, we just knew we could probably potentially end up in this situation. So the timing is now. We made the decision, and we move forward.”
But Caserio did not make moves in May, nor in the summer that followed, that offered any insurance in case Green spent the season on injured reserve. By then, the Texans had re-signed starting center Scott Quessenberry, signed former Dolphins reserve Michael Deiter and drafted Juice Scruggs (second round) and Jarrett Patterson (sixth round). But Deiter and Scruggs were center-centric additions mostly acquired to battle Quessenberry for the starting job, and Patterson’s stock (and rookie status) didn’t suggest he’d be a more reliable long-term replacement than an available veteran.
Caserio attributed Houston’s lack of depth to a wave of injuries “unlike I’ve ever been a part of relative to the offensive line.” Indeed, Quessenberry suffered a season-ending ACL/MCL tear on Aug. 3. The injury thrust Scruggs into the starting role at center. But the offensive line’s other major injuries were suffered by tackles: Charlie Heck, who is on the physically unable to perform list, and undrafted rookies DJ Scaife and Kilian Zierer, who are injured reserve.
Those were the circumstances that prompted Caserio to swap a 2024 fifth-round pick for a seventh in a trade with the Cardinals for offensive tackle Josh Jones. Only after Green was officially placed on injured reserve Tuesday did the Texans trade a 2025 sixth-round pick for Kendrick Green, a struggling former Steelers center who spent the 2022 season inactive as a healthy scratch. The Texans also claimed Nick Broeker, a seventh-round pick from Mississippi, who totaled 50 snaps at left guard in two preseason games before being waived by the Bills.
None of the moves suggested the Texans were proactive in finding a reliable replacement for Kenyon Green. Jones played 612 snaps at right guard in 2021 for the Cardinals, but he surrendered 20 quarterback pressures and three sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. Caserio acknowledged that Jones is “probably a little bit better tackle than guard” and opined that Kendrick Green “actually played probably more competitive than people think.”
Both players aren’t yet certain where they’ll play. Jones, who exclusively played tackle against the Saints, said he’s been working at both guard and tackle this week. Green, who had only arrived at his Houston hotel at 8 p.m. Tuesday, said he took snaps at center.
“Could be guard tomorrow,” Green said. “Who knows?”
The Texans must also temporarily solve their problem at center. Scruggs suffered a hamstring injury against the Saints, and he’s expected to miss at least the season opener. This would have been its own isolated issue apart from Kenyon Green’s injury. It is exacerbated because it could cause Patterson to play in Scruggs’ place.
That the Texans released Deiter only compounds the conundrum. He’d started in place of Kenyon Green on Sunday and surrendered only one quarterback hurry in 42 passing snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. When asked about Deiter’s release, Ryans said “a lot of things are still moving” and “our team isn’t set just yet.”
“We won’t have our team set until next week,” Ryans continued. “What you guys see over the next few days, the weekend, there’ll be a lot of moving pieces that continue to happen with our team.”
What moves will Caserio make? How aggressive will he be?
Caserio is aware of the team’s history. Owner Cal McNair hired him to overhaul the mess O’Brien left behind. Caserio waited a full season before trading former quarterback Deshaun Watson, which replenished the franchise’s draft picks with a haul that included three first-round selections. Caserio spent the first Cleveland first-rounder on Kenyon Green, and after trading two first-round picks to select Will Anderson Jr. in April, the Texans have only the Browns’ first-round pick remaining in 2024.
It doesn’t seem like Caserio will act in the desperation that yielded the Tunsil trade. He acknowledged the “financial cost” and “draft capital cost” of further investments in the offensive line, and he mentioned the Texans could “make some modifications and changes on the fringes” and “see if we can upgrade the depth.”
Caserio is under pressure to field a winning team after firing two head coaches in two seasons. McNair, whose family bankrolled the buyouts, signaled Caserio’s job insecurity by involving himself in the process of hiring Ryans. McNair restated his belief in Caserio at the time by calling him “an elite talent evaluator.”
The Texans cut four of the 14 players from Caserio’s first two draft cycles, and six others, including Green, have spent significant time sidelined with injuries. Caserio deflected when asked about the history. He said the “draft is a flip of a coin,” called it “the cost of doing business,” and said other teams also deal with these issues.
The grade of Green’s career isn’t yet decided. He’ll spend a season recovering and remains under contract through 2025. Caserio said “our job is to fix problems, find solutions and do what we feel makes the most sense for the team.” His management will be monitored, too.