Houston Texans Hidden Gems: 3 Secret Superstars on the 2025 roster

With a refurbished offensive line, the Houston Texans are hoping to take it all the way to the top in 2025. Here are three Secret Superstars who could help them get there.

The 2024 Houston Texans had an interesting season in which they alternated between looking like one of the NFL’s best teams and occasionally one of the worst, with a whole lot of undecided in between.

When it all worked, it was about a great defense, and an offense that had things all the way together with one of the best young quarterbacks in football, C.J. Stroud. When it didn’t, the youth of that defense showed up, and an offensive line that was full of shrug heading into the season got even worse.

There aren’t really any long-term questions about the defense; everything is arrowing up on that side of the ball. But after an offseason in which the team traded left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders, and made a bunch of moves to bolster their front five that seemed to raise uncertainly within the facility, it’s tough to say that things are any better there. Along with the Tunsil trade, the Texans traded 2022 15th overall pick Kenyon Green to the Eagles for defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and they made a few other acquisitions that didn’t really excite – tackles Cam Robinson and Trent Brown, and guards Ed Ingram and Laken Tomlinson. The selection of Minnesota tackle Aireontae Ersery with the 48th overall pick may be the best for the future, but even that’s a relative unknown right now despite Ersery’s impressive upside.

“Yeah, there’s never one particular thing,” general manager Nick Caserio said at the scouting combine regarding the line’s personnel and improvement. “So I think the big thing is, can you get the players to do the right thing, to understand their assignment? Do they play the right way with the right techniques? Do they play with the right fundamentals? Can they execute their assignment? Do they have an understanding of what’s going on? So, I don’t want to oversimplify it. Sometimes it’s like, they come up with some magic formula. You protect from the inside out, can you protect the interior pocket? Can you identify the rushers that are the [biggest] threat? Do you have an answer or solution, what they’re doing on defense? So, we’ll do whatever we think makes the most sense.

“Where we are today could be different in a week from now, could be different a few months from now. I don’t know how it looks. Just because a guy is here doesn’t necessarily mean, that’s what it’s going to look like. You guys were here a couple years ago, where we basically traded for three offensive linemen, signed another player, guys that weren’t even here. We weren’t even talking about in training camp, we are playing Week 1 through 4. So I mean, that’s just how it goes. So you are prepared for anything. So you’ve got to start with the foundation. You’ve got to start somewhere with the group, and then just kind of figure it out as you go.”

Urf. Figuring it out as you go isn’t generally the best way to do these things, but let’s say that it all works out, and Stroud isn’t the NFL’s most pressured quarterback as he was in 2024. A Texans team with that defense, as well as the bonafides of head coach DeMeco Ryans, could splay a lot of opponents in the postseason as they did to the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round before the Baltimore Ravens gave them a large reality check in the Divisional frame.

In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, where we profile one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent signing, and one underrated draft pick for every NFL team, we look at three such players who could get Ryans and his staff to their ultimate destination.

And no, none of them are offensive linemen. Alas.

Underrated Veteran: DL Tim Settle

Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images

While the big story of Houston’s defense last season (you know, the defense that ranked third in DVOA behind only the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings) was the demonic pass rush of edge terrors Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., there was a lesser-known guy who created his own wave of disruption on the interior of Houston’s defensive line. That was Tim Settle, who led all Texans inside pass-rushers with 43 total pressures after signing a two-year, $6 million deal with $3.25 million guaranteed before the 2024 season.

This was a major uptick for the veteran, selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by Washington. Throughout four years with his first team, and two subsequent seasons with the Buffalo Bills, Settle never had more than 435 snaps in a season, and never more than 19 total pressures. Houston has a need for interior force, and Settle’s got the ability to make the most of it with his five sacks, four quarterback hits, 34 quarterback hurries, 34 solo tackles, 23 stops, and five tackles for loss in the run game. All of a sudden, a historically undefined player became his best self in DeMeco Ryans’ system. Settle certainly isn’t the first player to benefit thusly under Ryans and his coaches, but he was a prominent understudy-to-star in 2024.

“For Tim, last offseason was a big challenge for him just getting the weight down, getting into shape, getting ready to go,” Ryans said in early June. “Now he’s in shape, he’s able to stay out there, able to take the coaching from [defensive line] Coach Rod [Wright] who’s done a great job, and now you can work on those finer details. With Tim, the thing we’re challenging him to get better on is his explosive hands. How can he play with explosive hands and get on and off blocks, disengage the right way. And Tim is doing a good job with that.”

Kudos to the Texans for bringing out the best in Settle so far with his strength, athleticism, and technique. That Ryans sees even more potential for 2025 should be a siren going off for opposing blockers in the new season.

Underrated Free-Agent Signing: RB Nick Chubb

Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Nick Chubb was selected with the 35th overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Cleveland Browns, and from Chubb’s rookie season through 2022, only Derrick Henry had more rushing yards (7.649) than Chubb’s 6,486. Among backs with at least 1,000 carries in that five-year span, nobody had a higher yards per carry average than Chubb’s 5.2, and given that Chubb played in 77 games in that stretch, starting 70, it seemed that Chubb had the NFL on lock.

Then the injuries started to hit. And they hit HARD. He missed most of the 2023 regular season to a Week 2 injury (ACL, LCL) to the same knee he hurt back with the Georgia Bulldogs in 2015. The 2023 injury kept Chubb out of the picture until Week 7 of the 2024 season, and though he did show some good zoom and cutting ability upon his return in a dumpster fire of a Browns offense with 332 yards and three touchdowns on 102 carries…

…he then suffered a fractured foot in Week 15 of the 2024 season, and everything was in danger again. Which allowed the Texans to swoop in and sign Chubb to a one-year, $2.5 million contract with $1.5 million guaranteed.

Obviously, the hope against hope is that Chubb can be a lite version of last year’s Saquon Barkley — the injury-prone back who switches teams and El-Kabongs the entire league over the head. But that’s a faraway wish at this point.

“Everything I’ve heard about Nick, and just following his career, he’s just a tremendous worker,” Ryans said on June 10. “Humble kid. Doesn’t say much. But he’s a grinder, a worker. The one thing that sticks out about him, he’s been through a lot with the injuries and things that’s happened to him. So just to see the resilience, to see him battle back, work in the right way to put himself in position to have another opportunity here in Houston, I couldn’t be more excited to add him to our team and see what value he can provide to us.

“The most important thing right now is for Nick to just get acclimated to how we do things. We all know the caliber of player that Nick can be when he’s healthy and when he’s at the top of his game. He’s a dynamic player. He’s a game changer. So, we’re just easing him in. We’ll see how far he gets. We’ll come back for training camp ready to go.”

It’s a no-lose situation for the Texans, If Chubb is unable to recover from everything that’s happened to him, it’s a throwaway deal. And if he’s able to do even what he did in 2024, it could be a major add to an offense that could use a bit of extra juice alongside Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce.

Underrated Draft Pick: Safety Jaylen Reed

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As much as some athletes are positively remembered for their performances in one game, there are other athletes who would love for one particular game to get put in the rearview as quickly as possible. This was the case for Penn State safety Jaylen Reed, whose reps against the Oregon Ducks in a 45-37 Big Ten Championship game loss had a lot of evaluators wondering just what the heck happened.

In that game, Reed was targeted four times, and he allowed four catches for 82 yards, 40 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, and the highest possible opponent passer rating of 158.3. While that game undoubtedly amped up the draft stock of Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who was “rewarded” with a third-round pick into the Cleveland Browns’ weirdo quarterback soup, Reed lasted all the way to the 187th pick in the sixth round, which is where the Texans got him.

The question is, how much stock do you want to put in one horrible game? In Reed’s case, there is more to the story. Those four touchdowns allowed versus Oregon were obviously less than optimal, but they were also the only touchdowns Reed allowed last season for the Nittany Lions on 38 targets. And though the Oregon game was the primary example of the fact that Reed can get lost in coverage at times, I could say the same thing about Georgia safety Malaki Starks, and Starks went to the Baltimore Ravens with the 27th pick in the first round.

And as much as Calen Bullock absolutely balled out for the Texans in his rookie year with five interceptions and six pass breakups, Bullock had a few missteps of his own. The moral of the story is that safety is very hard to play, and when it comes to young safeties, it’s important to focus on what they can do as you work to correct the stuff that doesn’t yet make sense.

In Reed’s case, there was still enough to go on. No, he’s not the guy you want in the deep third matching speed receivers downfield, but in everything from run support to blitzing to curl/flat work, he’s just fine. Overall in 2024, he allowed 32 catches on 38 targets for 364 yards, 229 yards after the catch, those four touchdowns, three interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 108.8. But he also lined up 62% of the time as a deep safety, and that’s not really where you want him.

The Texans already have Bullock as their primary deep safety, so maybe Reed comes in more closer to the line of scrimmage, allowing Jalen Pitre to be more positionally versatile. Or perhaps Reed uses the acumen that allowed him to amass two sacks, 12 total pressures, and two tackles for loss in the run game last season to be a situational addition.

Jaylen Reed isn’t going to be your ideal deep-third guy. That doesn’t mean that he won’t be valuable in the NFL.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions).