Texans try to prove doubters wrong behind Deshaun Watson

The Houston Texans are trying to avoid regression despite trading away DeAndre Hopkins. If they do, it will be because Deshaun Watson leveled up.

Best-case scenario

Houston finally breaks through and makes the AFC Championship Game for the first time in franchise history.

While a Super Bowl appearance (and a Super Bowl victory) are obviously the best-case scenario for all 32 teams every season, there’s no denying simply making the conference championship for the first time ever would be a massive accomplishment for these Texans.

For H-Town to do it, it’ll need to survive a brutal schedule and probably overcome some of the best teams in the league this year in their own conference — including the Ravens and the Chiefs. Houston has played both of those squads tough in recent years, and they’ll most likely be asked to do so again in 2020 — and perhaps twice.

Worst-case scenario

J.J. Watt gets hurt yet again and misses significant time this season, forcing Texans ownership and management to reinvest yet again in the defensive line via free agency or high-priced draft picks.

The loss of DeAndre Hopkins proves to be a fatal blow for the Texans offense, which opponents largely keep under wraps now that one of the game’s greatest receivers plays in another uniform. David Johnson is either injured often or simply ineffective as an RB1, and opposing defenses display little respect for the Texans run game all year long.

Deshaun Watson is asked to do much as a result, and he pays the price by tallying his highest giveaway total as a pro yet.

The Texans go 8-8 and miss the playoffs.

Biggest offseason move

The mind-melting trade of Hopkins — the best offensive weapon on the Texans roster — to the Cardinals for Johnson. O’Brien’s career as Houston’s head coach — and certainly as its general manager — probably hinges on how this blockbuster trade pans out.

Draft pick who makes the big impact

It has to be defensive lineman Ross Blacklock. Without a first-round pick in 2020, the Texans selected the TCU product in the second round to buttress their front. After all, Houston was eighth-worst in run defense and seventh-worst in sacks last year. While Blacklock alone won’t solve both of those problems, his addition to the roster should go a long way for Houston in helping restore their defensive identity.

Overall expectations

Many analysts and media sites are predicting that the Texans will regress in 2020 — and without many solid reasons why.

The surprising trade of Hopkins hasn’t done a lot to inspire any new-found confidence in this team’s offense (or in its decision-makers), but at its core, this is still a team that went 10-6 and won the division for the fourth time in the past five years in 2019.

Will there be growing pains as new offensive additions David Johnson, Brandin Cooks, and Randall Cobb integrate into the system? Perhaps. Are there injury concerns about those players, as well as other key contributors like Will Fuller and J.J. Watt? Of course.

Yet truthfully, there is little reason to expect significant slippage from a Texans team still captained by Deshaun Watson, now in his fourth year as a pro and looking very sharp and in command of this offense.

Defensively, the Texans should also turn a corner with Watt back in the fold. Houston might not be able to finally break through to the conference championship game and/or Super Bowl this year — not with an AFC dominated by the Chiefs and Ravens — but they’re still well-positioned to win the AFC South again and make some noise in the playoffs.