Houston Texans
The AFC South, once among the worst divisions in the NFL, is suddenly very competitive. The Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans are both going to challenge the Texans in a major way for the divisional crown, and if the Jacksonville Jaguars can get Blake Bortles to stop throwing picks, that team could be sneaky good, too.
The big issue for Houston, as it’s been since the team entered the NFL as an expansion team back in 2002, is that it has no quarterback. I mean, getting rid of Brock Osweiler was a great move that could result in addition by subtraction. But despite Bill O’Brien’s excitement about working with Tom Savage, he’s not the answer either.
Even if Houston finally does use up a top pick to land a quarterback in this year’s draft, whoever it is wouldn’t be ready to start games, let alone lead the Texans to the playoffs. And heck, say Tony Romo does end up with this team. Does anyone believe he’ll stay healthy? And in that case, Savage is going to be coming off the bench again, which is worse for the team than if he’d been working with the starting lineup all summer long.
Sure, this team features a fearsome front seven. Especially if J.J. Watt comes back healthy and can play all year long after back surgery. But losing A.J. Bouye will hurt, as will losing safety Quintin Demps.
All this adds up to the Texans losing momentum in their division and missing the playoffs in 2017.