The Houston Texans have won the AFC South division title for the second straight year and will be facing the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs this Saturday.

However, you can’t help but think of the future for the Texans, who were actually one of the NFL’s most disappointing teams this season in spite of their division crown.

Houston entered 2024 widely viewed as the heir to the Kansas City Chiefs’ throne in the AFC, but things certainly haven’t turned out that way. As a matter of fact, some feel the Texans are the worst group in the 14-team playoff.

So what happened in Houston?

The Texans went on a spending spree last offseason, signing edge rusher Danielle Hunter as well as trading for wide receiver Stefon Diggs and running back Joe Mixon.

Houston’s roster looked stacked going into the year, but Diggs ultimately suffered a torn ACL midseason, Mixon has faded and the Texans have been ravaged by injuries up and down the roster, including a second straight season-ending injury for wide out Tank Dell.

As a result, most have written off Houston in its matchup against the Chargers, and there is already conjecture about what the Texans can do this coming offseason.

Here is the problem: Houston is projected to have in the neighborhood of $14 million in cap room without having many cuttable players, so the Texans are going to run into some issues.

Meanwhile, Houston’s AFC South rivals will all have some decent money to spend, putting the Texans at a rather significant disadvantage.

Diggs will likely depart in free agency, and Dell may end up missing most—if not all—of 2025. That leaves Houston with Nico Collins and not a whole lot else in its receiving corps,

The free-agent crop actually looks pretty solid this March, but the issue is that the Texans aren’t going to be able to dip too deep into it.

Houston actually needs a lot. It needs offensive line help. It needs more weapons. It needs help along its interior defensive line. It needs to add another cornerback alongside of Derek Stingley Jr.

But the path to the Texans actually acquiring those pieces will be difficult.

Houston will have to get creative when it comes to restructuring contracts, and it will probably have to hit a home run in the NFL Draft.

The Texans are fortunate to play in arguably the league’s worst division, but their goal isn’t to win the AFC South; their goal is to dethrone the Chiefs.

Given Houston’s current financial situation, that will be monumental task. At least in 2025.

But who knows? Maybe the Texans will embark on a shocking playoff run here and make this entire point moot.