The last part of the offense that has plagued us over the years is a lack of depth. After DeAndre Hopkins, there was no one trustworthy. As much as I loved Braxton Miller out of OSU, he fell flat on his face in the NFL. You won’t find someone higher on Jaelen Strong, but he couldn’t be depended on either. Countless injuries to Will Fuller and Keke Coutee made it impossible to get any sort of continuity and rhythm for the offense. BOB has noticed that, and can no longer go the route of one star WR1, and no one else.

Instead, we are FOUR deep at WR. Those four are all above average, and many of them really good at what they do. Will Fuller, Brandin Cooks, Kenny Stills and Randall Cobb. If one of them goes down, we are fine. If two of them go down, we are even fine. That’s a luxury we’ve never had before. It’s also important to look at the skill sets of who we brought in. Going into the offseason I wanted the Texans to operate like Will Fuller wasn’t even on the team. They did just that by adding Brandin Cooks, a premier deep threat. The offense looks night and day when Watson has at least one reliable deep threat. And as much as I want Fuller to be healthy, we can’t keep betting on that. So if Fuller goes down, we wont have to change the offense and go back to that quick pass offense. We can play to Watson’s strength as a deep ball thrower, and watch as Cooks burns CBs left and right. Cooks is also an underrated route runner, who we can trust to get open and move the sticks. I made a video breaking down his game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUXiEuURng

I don’t feel the need to talk about Fuller, we know the video game like numbers he and Watson put up. As long as that dude is healthy, he will produce like a top 10 WR in the NFL, easily.

Next is Kenny Stills. At first, I thought Stills would be WR4, behind Cobb, because of the contract we gave him. But after hearing some things, Kenny Stills and Deshaun Watson have become best friends. Stills is Watson’s go to guy and the two have been training every day together. Added right before the start of last season, Stills didn’t get the chance to form a solid chemistry with Deshaun. That was apparent on the film, as the two had tons of opportunities that they could’ve connected on, with a better throw. But everything should click for those two this season. Stills is such an underrated WR, a true jack of all trades, master of none. He can do literally anything the offense asks of him. From being a deep threat, a reliable route runner, play outside or in the slot, even take jet sweeps from time to time. You ask it, and he’ll do it. I wrote about Kenny’s game here: https://texansunfiltered.com/articles/texans-kenny-stills-is-the-most-underrated-wr-in-the-nfl and broke him down in a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPadSM8xGU

Next is Randall Cobb, and he was the addition I was most weary about. I didn’t like the price tag, im still not in love with it. But his Dallas tape was a pleasant surprise. They used him as more than just your typical slot WR who runs slants and drags over the middle of the field. They asked him to run plenty of vertical routes, as well as posts and corners. His 15.1 YPR was the highest of his career and he looks like he hasn’t lost a step. He’s got serious juice and can add more big play ability to the team. Watson thrives on throws over the middle, and so it will be interesting to see how the Texans use Cobb. Watson would love to find Nuk open on slants, and while Cobb can do that too, we have the luxury of having him make big plays as well. Video on Cobb here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiJd7DS-niM

All our WRs are versatile, can run routes and make big time plays. Going 4 deep is a serious luxury, and that depth will certainly be beneficial throughout the season. Watson has his pick of the crop, and will no longer have to key in on Nuk, missing other open targets. He can read the field more freely, and just find the open man. Defenses will find it much tougher to gameplan for an offense that has 4 legit threats at WR, not just 1. In addition to that, you have to consider the RBs and TEs on the field as well. David and Duke Johnson will feast underneath if you want to take away the deep ball from Fuller and Cooks. Here's a video on David Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ps7Dw47FZM

Go ahead, play 2 high safeties all game, we can nickel and dime with Stills, Cobb and the Johnsons underneath. Even hitting Fells or Akins if we want to run our effective 2 TE sets. The options are limitless, the weapons are diverse, the team is all there on paper. The last thing to do is to put it all together. BOB has finally given away the reins to playcalling on offense. Protégé Tim Kelly is calling the shots and the players love him so far. He has been talking with them, including what they like to do, into the offense. He’s going to make sure everyone is happy and comfortable with their role. I’m excited to see what he can do, because the consistency of the offense was horrible last year. Now that BOB has less on his plate, the hope is that we will be the version of the Texans that dismantled the Pats #1 defense. Not the one that fell flat against the Panthers, Broncos and Ravens. Remember the Texans offense that went up 24-0 on the SB champs? That’s the goal, that’s the dream, and that should be the reality for next season.