A Safety and DT will put this defense in the top 10 next season.

Texans finished this season 16th on defensive DVOA. In terms of splits, it was something like top 10 DVOA vs the run. But 23rd or so in pass defense. Impossible to have a playoff caliber defense without good pass defense. A lot of the teams that do make runs that were not top 10 overall in defensive DVOA were at least good in pass coverage with run defense being the weakness.

Assuming we resign some of our guys, the pass rush we have been getting from our new guys like Barnett and Christian Harris emerging has been fantastic down the stretch.

A true DT though I think is the missing piece unlocking the DL. There are like 2 DT that could be available at our draft spot like Kris Jenkins who is a physical beast.

FA options:

• DJ Reader
• Leonard Williams

But also with how we run our coverage schemes, better safety play is a must. Our secondary has solid CBs (Stingley is elite), but our safety issues are a reason for a large amount of the chunk plays we have been giving up.

This draft doesn't seem to have any true 1st round safety talents, but lots of 2nd-3rd round caliber guys.

FA options:

• Antoine Winfield is a superstar S, but will probably get re-signed or tagged.

• Xavier McKinney (Giants) is my pick for a great all around fit.

PFF: McKinney’s coverage grades as a free safety (81.4) and in the box (79.4) are top-10 marks among safeties in 2023, and there is a big enough sample size of box play despite his general deployment as a deep player. Over the past three seasons, McKinney’s 7.0 yards allowed per target in coverage ranks top-25 among safeties, and his 17 combined interceptions and forced incompletions put him in the top 20.

While he could make more plays at or near the line of scrimmage, he rarely whiffs on open-field tackles. The 24-year-old has missed just 7.8% of his tackle attempts over his career, 11th-best among 89 safeties with at least 100 tackles over the past four seasons, making him a reliable enough last line of defense.

People have been saying "splurge on a WR1" while Stroud is cheap. While I agree to splurge while he is cheap, I would rather just spend on defense. Nico is a WR1, not a superstar at least just yet. What we are lacking is WR DEPTH. Tank Dell will help, but when Tank Dell was out our only "Consistent" depth was an inconsistent Noah Brown