In late April, the Houston Texans announced their plan to rebuild their much-maligned offensive line: the 2019 NFL Draft. With two of their first three selections, the team chose big, smaller-school linemen — Tytus Howard in the first, Max Scharping in the second.
Flash forward six months and both are starters for an offensive line that has shown marked improvement from their previous selves. Howard — who missed two games (knee) — manning the right tackle spot and Scharping pairing up with Laremy Tunsil on the left side.
Though both rookie linemen hail from small schools (Howard, Alabama State; Scharping, Northern Illinois), they have been effective on Houston’s rebuilt unit. Howard, a right tackle, ranks second in ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate metric (94%) while Scharping, a left guard, has not allowed a sack.
For their coach, Mike Devlin, he sees a pair of rookies that should grow week-by-week, in large part due to their short memory.
“From the rookie standpoint, I think every week is a learning curve. Again, their approach, what I’ve liked is they haven’t let one play affect them,” said Devlin on Tuesday. “I haven’t seen a lot of letting that one thing creep up again. I like that mentality.”
Howard and Scharping have done what every offensive line coach (and every coach) likes to see: work. Their high draft status won’t determine their careers in the NFL, rather, their quest for constant improvement will.
“They are all working hard, being good teammates and studying their butts off,” said Devlin.
As most coaches do, Devlin serves the two a piece of humble pie. Said the offensive line coach: “I don’t think they’re anything special by any means and I think they go out there to try to do their job and win.”
Though they may not be anything special to coach Devlin, the two have been a revelation for Houston’s offensive line. That’s with a half of a season of NFL experience behind them.
