When the Houston Texans dismissed offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik following the 2024 campaign, they also said goodbye to offensive line coach Chris Strausser.

Strausser held the job for two seasons after being hired away from the Indianapolis Colts. While Slowik’s departure — and the search for his replacement — made the headlines, Houston still had a tough decision to make with this hire.

Throughout the year, the offensive line was a major issue. C.J. Stroud was sacked 52 times in the regular season and 11 in the playoffs. Eight of those postseason sacks happened in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Texans promote assistant offensive line coach, add more responsibility

After selecting Nick Caley as their new offensive coordinator, Houston was ready to figure out who would replace Strausser. They didn’t have to look far as their choice was to promote Cole Popovich.

Popovich spent the past two seasons as the assistant offensive line coach under Strausser. Before that, he was the offensive line coach at Troy and spent five years as an assistant with the New England Patriots.

In addition to his title as offensive line coach, Popovich will also serve as the run game coordinator. While most of his experience is with the O-line, he did spend one year as the assistant running backs coach with New England.

Promoting from within is an interesting choice given the issues the line had under Strausser and Popovich, but head coach DeMeco Ryans is putting his faith in someone he knows.