The Houston Texans have easily the worst offensive line in the NFL heading into 2019, after allowing a staggering 62 sacks throughout the 2018 regular season alone. Entering free agency it was widely expected that there would be some movement in this area for the Texans, with some high profile names such as Matt Paradis and Trent Brown available, not to mention other seasoned veterans such as Donald Penn.
Unfortunately for desperate Texans fans, it seems that general manager Brian Gaine and coach Bill O’Brien are remaining as stubborn and set in their ways as ever as they insist that the best way to build a team is through draft picks. This, despite the fact that in recent years the Texans haven’t got the best track record of scouting young offensive linemen with Nick Martin, Martinas Rankin, Julién Davenport, Xavier Su’a-Filo, Kyle Fuller, all having failed to impress.
The only changes so far to this woeful unit was the departure of right tackle Kendall Lamm, and re-signing of veteran right tackle Seantrel Henderson on a one-year deal. And despite calls from fans left and right for the Texans to make a beeline for Donald Penn to replace Davenport, after hearing about his release from the Oakland Raiders, it is an unexpected and somewhat less spectacular tackle whom they have opted to bring in.
Matt Kalil is a former fourth overall pick, with 82 NFL starts and a Pro Bowl under his belt. So far so good? Well, perhaps not so much. His time with the Minnesota Vikings may have started off well, but according to Pro Football Focus, he was graded as one of the worst offensive tackles for both 2014 and 2015 before he missed almost all of 2016 with a season-ending hip injury.
He was promptly picked up by the Panthers and subsequently played all of the 2017 season, which he finished ranked by PFF as the 53rd ranked tackle in the NFL before a recurring knee injury forced him to miss all of the 2018 season.
According to Joe Person of The Athletic, when Kalil was cut by the Panthers it was down to the fact that the, “Panthers simply didn’t think Kalil was durable or good enough to keep on the roster any longer.”
Harsh.
A one-year deal is about as low risk as they get, and the Texans clearly aren’t expecting him to be their long-term starter as things stand. The good thing is they have next to nothing invested in him, so should this little experiment fail they lose little, but if he regains his former Pro Bowl form then the Texans have Deshaun Watson’s blindside protected. However, it is safe to suggest that it would be wise to keep expectations low.
