The Houston Texans signed Matt Kalil yesterday. It's a big name at the tackle position, but not a successful one. Kalil struggled for Carolina in 2017 and then missed all of last year with a knee injury of some sort. But the Texans have little choice but to throw things at the wall and hope something sticks.
Houston's trade up for Deshaun Watson, and the Brock Osweiler misstep (which cost them a second-round pick to get out of), have cost Houston a lot of early picks in recent years. Obviously they'd make that trade up to select Watson again every time, but such maneuvers have factored into them having a lesser offensive line. They made it into the playoffs last year, and Watson managed to stay healthy. But that tackle duo of Julie'n Davenport and Kendall Lamm didn't get it done.
Watson was sacked 62 times last year, most in the league. He was hit on more than 22 percent of the team's pass plays -- also worst in the league. It's remarkable he didn't miss any time.
OFFENSIVE LINE STATS, 2018 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Sacks | Att | Pass | QB Hits | Hits/PP |
Houston | 62 | 506 | 568 | 126 | 22.2% |
San Francisco | 48 | 532 | 580 | 125 | 21.6% |
Miami | 52 | 455 | 507 | 107 | 21.1% |
Arizona | 52 | 495 | 547 | 109 | 19.9% |
Seattle | 51 | 427 | 478 | 94 | 19.7% |
Jacksonville | 53 | 536 | 589 | 111 | 18.8% |
Buffalo | 41 | 499 | 540 | 101 | 18.7% |
Dallas | 56 | 527 | 583 | 107 | 18.4% |
Washington | 44 | 509 | 553 | 98 | 17.7% |
Kansas City | 26 | 583 | 609 | 106 | 17.4% |
Atlanta | 42 | 617 | 659 | 108 | 16.4% |
Tampa Bay | 41 | 625 | 666 | 109 | 16.4% |
Philadelphia | 40 | 599 | 639 | 102 | 16.0% |
LA Chargers | 34 | 512 | 546 | 86 | 15.8% |
NY Giants | 47 | 583 | 630 | 97 | 15.4% |
Green Bay | 53 | 640 | 693 | 102 | 14.7% |
Minnesota | 40 | 606 | 646 | 95 | 14.7% |
Oakland | 52 | 556 | 608 | 89 | 14.6% |
Denver | 34 | 588 | 622 | 91 | 14.6% |
Tennessee | 47 | 437 | 484 | 69 | 14.3% |
Detroit | 41 | 574 | 615 | 84 | 13.7% |
NY Jets | 37 | 524 | 561 | 74 | 13.2% |
Carolina | 32 | 563 | 595 | 78 | 13.1% |
Cincinnati | 37 | 542 | 579 | 71 | 12.3% |
LA Rams | 33 | 568 | 601 | 73 | 12.1% |
Chicago | 33 | 512 | 545 | 64 | 11.7% |
Indianapolis | 18 | 644 | 662 | 77 | 11.6% |
Cleveland | 38 | 574 | 612 | 71 | 11.6% |
New England | 21 | 574 | 595 | 68 | 11.4% |
Baltimore | 32 | 556 | 588 | 66 | 11.2% |
Pittsburgh | 24 | 689 | 713 | 72 | 10.1% |
New Orleans | 20 | 519 | 539 | 52 | 9.6% |
Houston's already moved on from Lamm, who signed a backup-type deal with Cleveland. They've got Davenport, former Bill Seantrel Henderson, and now Kalil at tackle, and they likely will -- should -- be looking to add a tackle in the upcoming NFL Draft.
They need to get better, if they want Watson to make it through another season healthy.
--Andy Richardson