Texans Offensive Line, C.J. Stroud, and ELITE Defense SET Houston’s Playoff Course in 2026

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4.6 • 968 Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Houston Texans eye their first AFC Championship Game appearance as Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter form the league’s most feared pass rush duo. With a defense ranked in the top three in nearly every major category, are the Texans primed to follow the blueprint of recent Super Bowl champions? Joe Marino and Kyle Crabbs examine the Texans’ roster overhaul, including Braden Smith’s stabilizing presence on the offensive line and Nico Collins’ rise as a cornerstone pass-catcher. Discussions cover C.J. Stroud’s critical year, the backfield’s new dynamic with David Montgomery and Woody Marks, and a revamped secondary lauded as the NFL’s best. Can DeMeco Ryans’ squad avoid late-season pitfalls and capitalize on an imposing defensive identity? Key schedule matchups, depth concerns, and win projections shape the outlook for Houston’s championship pursuit.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In each of Houston's first three seasons under to Miko Ryans, the Texans have reached the
0:06.0	divisional round.
0:07.2	Is this the year Houston plays in the AFC championship game?
0:10.9	We're exploring that right now.
0:17.5	You are locked on NFL scouting with the draft dudes, your daily podcast for NFL and college football scouting.
0:26.3	Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
0:32.4	What's better than this?
0:34.0	It's guys being dudes.
0:36.3	I'm Joe Marino.
0:37.6	He's Kyle Craves.
0:39.2	Today's episode is brought to you by Kalshi.
0:41.4	For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code locked on to get $10 when you
0:46.1	trade 10.
0:47.2	Kalshi trade on anything.
0:50.2	Happy Houston Texans Day to you, Joe, and everybody listening as we now reach our 30th franchise of the summer to be given the full spotlight here on Lockton, NFL Scouting, which is our summer series.
1:07.6	This is how we get the power rankings for the season.
1:10.5	We grade all the players.
1:12.2	We're assessing cornerstones, quality starters, sufficient level starters, depth players,
1:18.3	where we have depth concerns in starting lineups. Joe's going to take us through the season
1:23.8	outlook with the win-loss total at the end of today's show. And then when we do all 32 of these, we stack them up.
1:30.8	There's point values associated for each position where we give the numbers or give
1:36.0	the tags to the players.
	...

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