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The Houston Texans need a “second football” with a new team?

Will the Houston Texans have enough targets to go around? The club wasted no time getting star second-year quarterback CJ Stroud with more than enough targets to compete. The team is ready to jump into Super Bowl contention, and they haven’t performed when it comes to roster construction.

The Texans brought Joe Mixon into the backfield, replacing running back Devin Singletary. They traded for Stefon Diggs, investing a second-round pick to round out a wide receiver corps that included Tank Dell and Nico Collins. They also signed tight end Dalton Schultz to a multi-year contract.

READ MORE: Texans’ DeMeco Ryans Reveals Stefon Diggs’ Best Attribute

Investing in offensive weapons was a focal point for the Texans this offseason. How will this impact the upcoming season?

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell looked at a scenario for each AFC team, as he did for each NFC franchise last week. For the Texans, his scenario was simple: The Texans are the team most likely to request the use of a second football in the NFL.

As mentioned, the Texans have introduced a handful of new targets, and they currently have a wide receiver corps that includes three targets who would be WR1s if they were all on separate teams.

“But what will it actually look like on the ground?” Barnwell asked what the new targets were. “I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of Houston’s various receivers fail to live up to fans’ expectations. It’s not because of talent or poor play, but simply because there isn’t will only have a limited number of targets to circumvent.”

Again, the three starting receivers would each be the top target if they were all placed on separate teams, but that’s simply not the case. They’ll have more space on the field to play cohesively, but there’s only one football and a handful of targets to get around.

“Consider that Diggs was targeted on more than 29 percent of the routes he ran in a pass-heavy Buffalo offense last season. That ranked 11th in the league,” Barnwell wrote. “Before his fibula injury in December, Dell was targeted on more than 26 percent of his routes, which ranked 30th. Collins was targeted on nearly 28 percent of his routes, which ranked 22nd, and that jumped 33% after Dell went down injured, not accounting for targets from Schultz, Mixon or any other receiver.”

Even if, on paper, the season doesn’t look as good as it should, it’s the overall offensive impact that counts. If the team thrives on the offensive side of the ball, individual stats don’t matter – the film will.

“On the field, it doesn’t really matter,” Barnwell continued. “If the offense works and Houston wins games, no Texans fan will care how often each receiver is targeted, nor should they. But with Collins and Diggs both in the latter year of their respective contracts and their expectations for each receiver at a dizzying level, I’m not sure there will be the volume available for each of these stars to produce what some might hope for.

It would be fun if the team could play with two footballs, and it might please the wide receiver corps, but, again, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Everyone will see targets and great actions will be performed with each of the new offensive weapons.

READ MORE: How the Houston Texans Can Address ‘Biggest Needs’ Ahead of Training Camp

Stay with TexansGameday for more coverage on the Houston Texans throughout the offseason.

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