On their initial 53-man roster, the Houston Texans decided to keep 12 offensive linemen on the roster. Five tackles, five guards and two centers made up the list.
Of course, all that changed in the coming days as both offensive guard Sam Hangen and right tackle Braden Smith were placed on the injured reserve, thus bringing Houston's line back down to the standard 10.
The Texans' projected starters so far for this season are Aireontae Ersery and Trent Brown as the starting tackles, Keylan Rutledge and Ed Ingram as the starting guards and Evan Brown as the starting center.
Houston’s offensive line has been heavily criticized in the offseason and throughout training camp as being one of the worst, if not the worst, offensive line groups in the NFL.
However, head coach DeMeco Ryans has a lot of confidence in his offensive line and is focused more on having them continue to develop chemistry leading up to the season opener against the Buffalo Bills.
“Our offensive line has gelled really well together,” Ryans said. “Throughout camp, that's where you try to find who are the best five guys and you want those guys to start working together as soon as possible. We were able to solidify a group and those guys have been doing a great job of communicating, working well together and we'll see how that continues to progress. I'm really proud of the offensive line. I'm excited for them and to see where they'll go this season and how they'll continue to grow as a group. We have some young guys in there who's working together. ‘Tae’ is still a young guy. Ed is young. We have some young guys in there along with Rutledge that are still finding their way but they're doing a really good job of communicating and working together. That's what offensive line is about. When you play together, you play with good fundamentals, good technique, you have a chance. They've done that.”
Ersery started 16 games as a rookie last season and served as Houston’s left tackle. While Ersery did not have the best season, with low PFF grades in both pass protection and run blocking, he's had a full offseason to improve going into Year 2.
Beside him, Rutledge, the Texans' first-round pick, should bolster the interior play. He started out taking reps at center, but the Texans ultimately decided to have him go back to his original position at guard, though he will play on the left side for the first time in his career.
While Rutledge needs to make some improvements in this technique based on his college tape, he also came into the draft as one of the most athletic players, which fits with what the Texans were looking for. His strength in college was run blocking, which should help new running back David Montgomery, but he was considered about average in terms of his pass-blocking ability.
The Texans open the regular season at home on Sept. 13 against the Buffalo Bills.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans HC DeMeco Ryans pleased with 'geling' of the offensive line entering Week 1
