Houston Texans Rank Top 10 in ESPN’s NFL Football Power Index

The Texans progressed quickly last season in DeMeco Ryans’ first season as head coach and CJ Stroud under center. Houston finished 10-7, won the AFC South and advanced to the AFC divisional round.

Rather than rest on the laurels of 2023, general manager Nick Caserio sought to maximize the Texans’ window of competition with a flurry of offseason moves. He traded for two offensive starters, receiver Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon, and signed high-impact starters like edge Danielle Hunter and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.

There’s no guarantee the Texans will repeat as division champions, but the underlying metrics point to an upward trajectory for Houston. Their division has gotten a little stronger overall, but the Texans proved to be one of the better teams last season and didn’t lose enough to warrant a decline in 2024.

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ESPN agreed and ranked the Texans among the top ten teams in the league using their Football Power Index. According to ESPN, FPI “is a measure of a team’s strength that is intended to be the best indicator of a team’s performance for the remainder of the season.” FPI represents the number of points above or below a team’s average. Projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the remainder of the season using FPI, results to date and remaining schedule. »

Here’s where Houston ranked in ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Houston Texans Rank Top 10 in ESPN’s NFL Football Power Index

The Texans ranked ninth in ESPN’s FPI heading into the 2024 season with a 3.0 rating. That means ESPN’s analytics estimate that Houston will win three more games than the average NFL team this season. For reference, the 49ers and Chiefs ranked No. 1 and No. 2 with 5.1 and 5.0, respectively.

In detail, ESPN gave the Texans offense a 2.2 FPI, defense a 0.6 and special teams a 0.2. The offense and defense both ranked ninth, while the special teams finished tied for second.

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This assessment makes sense. Stroud is already one of the best quarterbacks in the league and the Texans have arguably the best receiving trio in the NFL with Diggs, Nico Collins and Tank Dell. The defense is good but has its problems, especially in the secondary. Special teams have been the mainstay of the Texans since the hiring of coordinator Frank Ross.

Houston is poised to take another step forward if this metric is to be believed. Oddly enough, the Texans ranked 17th at the end of the 2023 season despite their playoff seeding.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding this Texas team after a big 2024 offseason. The analytics support that claim, but it’s now up to the team to live up to expectations.