I'd venture to say its a major quality that got him drafted. He played well his final season at Ohio St, but he had some clunkers in bad weather and when put under pressure. But come the playoffs, against the best defense in college football, he went super composed and shined. NFL level, those hits and pressures hurt more. But show him we can help alleviate it and I bet he comes back strong.
All the problems last year begin - and mostly end - with the offensive line. They were incompetent, failing to execute even fundamental components of offensive line play - they didn't know assignments; their footwork and positioning were awful; they couldn't read the defense. Once Flores exposed them, the book was out and they had no counter move. That ultimately falls on Slowick. He had no answers. I'm not sure how much blame I would allocate to CJ: he started the year playing with a new WR and RB + Dell missed the end of last season and was rusty. It looked, early on, like the chemistry wasn't quite there. And then the one guy he was definitely on the same page with (Nico) got hurt and after that, CJ looked lost. Meanwhile, he's getting bludgeoned every week and was almost certainly playing through multiple injuries. Also, we don't really talk about it - but the schedule last year was a big obstacle. Three consecutive night games across a Thursday. Sunday & Monday threw everything off, and, if he was hurt, having to play 3 games in 11 days was not ideal. After the post-Ravens "bye," CJ looked soooooo much better; I'm guessing it was the healthiest he had been since the start of the season. I'm not sure my blame % would crawl into the double digits with him. The coordinator and OL were - by a significant margin - the two biggest issues.
I agree with your post in that there were multiple contributing factors. One thing is certain - we have one of the worst OL in the league. Losing Diggs and Dell hurt badly. CJ often held the ball too long and threw some picks trying to turn nothing into something. I consider those growing pains for a very young, second-year, QB. I honestly don't know if Slowick did a bad job or if our losses at receiver combined with our poor OL were just too much to overcome.
CJ is a good basketball player and likes to run the point. I believe those skills transfer well to the football field particularly when the protection breaks down and CJ can extend the play with his legs while looking downfield. The problem is that he HAS to have receivers that can get open so that he can deliver the ball. Without Diggs and then Dell, there were far fewer opportunities for CJ to find open receivers down the field and so he took a lot of sacks and threw more picks.
What do you guys think of signing Jedrick Wills? He could replace Mason at RG for a season and then transition to LT if we move on from Tunsil to free up cap space. Tunsil - Donovan Jackson - Juice - Wills - Howard and a new scheme could provide the entire offense a boost. Thoughts?
I agree Tunsil is a stalwart of the offensive line. He is subject to penalties, but is it because the unit isn’t operating in syncrinocity? The offensive line needs to think as one, and if the group can get to that point, the offense will take off. The Texans have a championship caliber defense. They have a franchise QB, a franchise RB, a franchise WR, a franchise LT. But the offensive line is constantly being outplayed.
We may be stuck with him, but I’m not expecting him to change. His penalty numbers have remained high throughout his career, with only a couple of seasons where he kept them in check. 2024 – 17 penalties 2023 – 11 2022 – 10 2021 – 1* (Looked amazing until I realized he only played five games) 2020 – 7 2019 – 17 (First year with the Texans) 2018 – 8 2017 – 12 Year after year, he is near or at the top of the league in penalties. While he has managed to avoid double-digit penalties in a couple of full seasons, the overall trend suggests this is just who he is as a player.
A well synchronized OL doesn’t need to made up of #1 round draft picks. If memory serves me correctly, you can fill a top flight OL with fellas drafted in the later rounds (I seem to remember a plethora of guys that became pro bowl OL draft in the 4, 5, and 6th rounds…. The one constant is that the LT is generally a top 1st rounder or at least your highest drafted OLman. With the right group, the Texans can fix the OL, if they have the right attitude and competent coaching.
While true, it seems like we just never have the right coaches to develop those guys. Player development for the OLINE has sucked since we had Arian Foster.
It takes centers like about two years before they figure it out apparently. I expect him to make an even bigger leap nxt year with better coaching (cross fingers) and scheme.
Wouldn't it be great to have a long term fix on the OL. Draft Jackson/ Trade for Zabel/ Trade for Micheal Mayer. Sign 2/3 WR's in FA. Or Sign Fries/Noteboom/Robinson/Atwell in FA. Draft defense minus a TE that can block
