The 2025 Houston Texans will go down as one of the most remarkable "What If?" stories in recent NFL history. DeMeco Ryans' defense, which ranked third in DVOA the year before , bumped it up to second last season, and the Texans were able to make that leap with about as "vanilla" a defense as you'll find in the league these days.
That's a compliment, by the way. It's not that Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke were calling Matt Eberflus levels of genericism out there — there were some neat stunts and safety switches and whatnot — but these guys were playing at breakneck speed with evil intentions, and the playbook didn't get in the way. The Seattle Seahawks ranked first in Defensive DVOA, but if you wanted to argue that Houston's was even better, you wouldn't hear too much dissent.
Problem was, Seattle's offense ranked 10th in DVOA , which was good enough to get them a Lombardi Trophy with a defense like that, while Houston's offense ranked 19th. The real problem from last season reared its ugly head in the playoffs, when C.J. Stroud had the worst postseason DYAR since 1977, which is as far back as FTN's (formerly Football Outsiders') metrics go at this point. Which is what happens when you complete 41 of 79 postseason passes in two games for 462 yards, two touchdowns, five interceptions (including four picks in Houston's 28-16 Divisional Round loss to the New England Patriots), and a passer rating of 51.8.
(Apologies for the 2015 Brian Hoyer flashbacks, by the way).
Stroud's developmental issues over the last two seasons after his remarkable rookie campaign in 2023 have been distressing, but not unusual. You could ask Vince Young, Robert Griffin III, or Mac Jones about things going south after they looked so good to start. But if the Texans are to find themselves among the class of the NFL overall, they'll need that offense to click up a bit.
They'll also need great performances from everybody on the roster — the stars like Stroud, of course, but also the guys whose names are not as well-known. To that end, I've identified three Hidden Gems on the 2026 Texans roster — one underrated veteran, one underrated free agent signing, and one underrated draft pick.
Hopefully, they can help take the Texans from "What If?" to "We Did It!"
For that Texans defense to work as well as it does, it has to be about more than just the edge-rushers, or cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. I could have put five or six different Houston defenders in this spot, but the more I watched Kamari Lassiter's tape last season and into this offseason, he had to be the guy.
In 2025, the second-year man from Georgia was targeted a lot, and he was all about making opponents pay for their insolence. Lassiter saw 95 targets last season, the NFL's seventh-most, and he allowed just 51 catches for 554 yards, 181 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, four interceptions, 17 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 71.1. Any cornerback who is targeted that often will give up a few, but when Lassiter played in phase last season, he was dominant — especially in press coverage, where he allowed just 19 catches on 42 targets.
"I mean, he's been who he is since he stepped out there on the field," Stingley said in June of his estimable bookend. "He listens to whoever has anything to say to him, whether it's coaching for him, or just letting him know what to do. But he's also a leader to the young people that are on the team now. I wouldn't say it's competition, obviously, I want to see him make a play just like anybody else and I'm sure it's the same for him to me, and everybody else. So, [if] he goes out there and has 20 picks this year, I'm like, 'Come on, let's do it again, keep on doing it.'
"But yeah, he's going to keep on making plays just being who he is."
There's no doubt about that, and if Lassiter cleans up the little things in Year 3, we could easily be talking about him as one of the NFL's best at his position sooner than later.
The Texans defense also got smarter in free agency with the acquisition of former Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship. Houston signed the undrafted Middle Tennessee State alum (Go Blue Raiders) to a three-year, $24.75 million contract with $16.75 million guaranteed, and if you talk with anybody familiar with Vic Fangio's Eagles defense over the last few years, they'll tell you that Blankenship was the green dot guy as much as anybody on those teams.
Blankenship's new teammates are already impressed.
"He just jumped right in, and he's just playing," Stingley said of Blankenship earlier this month. "There were no drop-offs. There were no communication problems. It wasn't forced. He's a ball player. He's been doing it in a different place, but now he's with us. He's just out there making plays like we know he can do."
2025 was a bit of a down year statistically for the veteran — he allowed 32 catches on 45 targets for 379 yards, 92 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, one interception, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 116.8 — Blankenship's highest to date in a season. Given that both Blankenship and Texans safety Calen Bullock played mostly in the deep third for their defenses last season, the plan could be to keep Bullock there, and move Blankenship around more, giving him box and overhang opportunities.
Regardless, Blankenship is already very excited about his new defense.
"From the outside looking in, especially playing in Philly, I was fortunate enough to be on a few really good defenses," he said in his introductory press conference. "Sitting back and watching Houston fly around at times, I'm like, 'Dang, this defense is legit.' Fast forward to being able to play for [the Houston Texans] now, it's crazy that a team like that wants me to come in and to perform at a high level. It speaks volumes. I feel like with me coming into this defense, I feel like I can give everybody a sense of calmness. That's part of my game. I want to be the communicator out there.
"I don't want to step on anybody's toes at all, but I want everybody just to play free. Play free, have fun and at the end of the day, just go and hit dudes. That's just part of defense. I've always been coached like an old school type coach. I've been born and raised to go run and hit dudes for a living. I feel like this is a great fit. I know there's a bunch of dawgs in the secondary, linebackers, defensive line, everywhere. I'm super, super excited, super stoked for this. I'm just ready to build that relationship between all the levels, for sure."
The 27-year-old Blankenship is more than a coach on the field — he's still got some good tape — and the obvious hope is that he can return to his 2024 best. As if Houston's defense needs even MORE intelligent smashmouth out there.
And now, back to that uncertain offense. It's awesome that Tank Dell is back on the field after the gruesome injury stuff , though we're still uncertain how it will all play out when the games begin. And we all know that Nico Collins is one of the NFL's best true X-Iso receivers — a rare breed. Beyond that, the Texans are still looking to firm up the receiver group, though both Jayden Higgins and Xavier Hutchinson had some nice moments last season.
Now, offensive coordinator Nick Caley can add Boston College's Lewis Bond to the mix, after the Texans took Bond with the 204th overall pick in the sixth round of the draft. In 2025, his fifth season with the Eagles, Bond maxed it out with career highs in targets (111), catches (88), and receiving yards (993). He had just one touchdown last season, but overall, the tape shows an NFL-caliber separator. And that's far more important than having burner speed and running blindly into coverage on a regular basis.
It wasn't just that Bond had to wait so long to hear his name called on draft weekend; he was also a notable scouting combine snub (though he availed himself well at the Senior Bowl). Why? Well, when you stand about 5'11", weigh about 190 pounds, and run a 4.58-second 40-yard dash at your pro day , you will be overlooked.
The Texans, however, are quite convinced that they got their man.
"Really smart," general manager Nick Caserio said after Bond was drafted. "Really instinctive. Good ball skills. Finds a way to get open. Very productive with his opportunities. I know that [he] was a player that [Wide Receivers/Offensive Passing Game Coordinator] Coach [Ben] McDaniels spent time with in the spring on Zoom. He said [Bond] was one of the smartest players that he ever talked to as a part of this process, and you see that in his play. Very dependable. He's in the right spot. Good football player. I would say he has football player traits. You might look at the card and the measurables and say he's a little slower, a little shorter, but he produced consecutively for multiple years.
"Obviously played in an NFL-style offense, and [Boston College Head] Coach [Bill] O'Brien's system. Some things will carry over. Some of the things will be different. You saw a lot of good things on tape and that was a player as we worked through today on Saturday we were talking, and 'Hey, what do you think?' We like him. We both liked the player. Ben liked the player. All right, if we have the opportunity to add him to the team, let's figure it out, which is why we made the pick that we did in the sixth round."
"Yeah, 'Lew' is a dog," Collins said of Bond on August 1. "He's picking up things. He's getting open in the slot, making plays. He has all the tools in the world. He's going to continue to learn from us, continue to build and continue to make plays for us.
"He's going to be special, for sure."
