Texans have offensive line continuity even down into their depth

The Houston Texans can count the continuity along their offensive line. After all, they will have all five starters returning for the first time since 2011. That is a winning formula in pro football.

In addition to the cohesion that has formed with their starters, the Texans also have dependable depth along the offensive line.

Offensive line coach Mike Devlin is “appreciative” of the veteran talent they have on the bench in Greg Mancz, Senio Kelemete, and Roderick Johnson.

“In this day and age with what we’re all going through, you have to be prepared for any scenario,” Devlin said. “I really feel like having those veteran backups like we got is critical for the season, and they’ve all played for us.”

Kelemete was the Texans’ starting left guard in 14 of his 15 games in 2018 before rookie Max Scharping took his spot. Mancz has played 54 games for the Texans, starting in 28 of them in just about every position along the interior offensive line. Johnson was activated for all 16 games last year and started in three of them as rookie right tackle Tytus Howard was lost for the year on Nov. 30 to an MCL injury.

Even though the Texans have “dependable, tough, and smart” players along the offensive line, Devlin doesn’t believe he knows what he has until full contact is allowed in practice.

“Every year is a different year and you have to go out and grind it and improve yourself,” said Devlin. “Last year was a starting point of all those guys together and it makes it tougher because you want to hit. O-linemen, you want to hit, you want to get your fix.

“So, that’s still a little bit of a ways away. As I tell you guys all the time, I’ll know more about a lot of guys once the contact comes.”

If availability issues hit the offensive line, the Texans know they can count on quality depth to fill key positions.