The Houston Texans’ 2024 season was a bit of a roller coaster, but the way they finished up in the playoffs, with a wild card round rout of the Chargers and a competitive street fight with the Chiefs in a loss, has most Texans fans pretty optimistic about 2025. There are a lot of good things happening with this franchise.
However, not everything coming out of 2024 is positive. There were certainly areas of struggle for this team that seem far from resolution. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the four biggest negative developments for the Houston Texans in the 2024 campaign:
4. DeMeco Ryans didn’t take that “next step” as a head coach
Don’t get me wrong, I am still very bullish on DeMeco Ryans as the leader for this Houston Texans football team. He has the support of the higher-ups and the respect of his players, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more cerebral defensive mind in the sport. That said, there were key areas where Ryans either didn’t improve or flat out regressed. In his rookie head coach season, we marveled at his game management/game operation capabilities, but in 2024, that area seemed worse. Sideline operation was an issue at times. Ryans was the head coach of a team that lost four games in which teams with a similar statistical profile win well over 90 percent of the time. The Texans beat themselves in way too many games. That’s on the head coach, as much as the players.
3. Dalton Schultz turned into a dud
Schultz came to Houston on a one year, prove-it deal back in March 2023, before the team had even drafted C.J. Stroud. It was a big leap of faith, and Schultz had a very solid 2023, and the Texans rewarded him with a 3 year, $36 million deal last spring. Unfortunately, not only did all of Schultz’s stats go backwards — fewer yards, fewer catches, more drops — but his blocking went from “hey, not great, but hey, he tries!” to “holy crap, this guy sucks!” Now, it’s up to Schultz to show some pride and try to recapture his 2023 form.
2. Tank Dell may never be the same again
This is inarguably the worst player-related development of the 2024 season, and it’s really not even close. When Tank Dell has been on the field, he’s been a difference maker, with a twitchy skill set and an uncanny ability to get open, oftentimes WIDE open. Well, that all came crashing down in Week 16 in Kansas City, on a touchdown catch by Dell, of all things, where teammate Jared Wayne ran into Dell’s knee, tearing practically every ligament and dislocating Dell’s kneecap. Now, Dell’s 2025 season is very much in doubt, and beyond that, who knows if Dell is ever able to recapture the magic he showed as a rookie in 2023 and, at times, in 2024?
1. Bobby Slowik went from “sought after” to “afterthought”
This time a year ago, Texans fans were chewing their fingernails down the skin, worrying about which NFL head coaching vacancy would be filled by a team enamored with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. After a season in which, as the primary play caller, Slowik groomed C.J. Stroud into the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, it seemed like a matter of time before he’d leave for a head coaching job. Fast forward, and after a season in which the offense swirled into the toilet in many key categories, most Texans fans would drive Slowik to the airport themselves, if he were offered a job somewhere else. If Slowik is retained for 2025, he might be the one Texan, more than even any player, whose performance needs to be massively upgraded over his 2024 performance.
