SEASON PREDICTION 

CJ Stroud enters the 2026 season with all eyes on him. Last year ended with a disastrous 4 interception game from Stroud against the Patriots in the division round. In the two playoff games he played, he accumulated five interceptions and five fumbles. His terrible showing cost them a chance at the Super Bowl with the best defense in the league. As we enter 2026, Houston has done everything to help Stroud out. They went out and traded for Montgomery to bolster their weak running back room. They also resigned and added even more weapons to arguably the best defensively in the league. All the pieces are in place for Stroud to lead this team to a Super Bowl. The only question remaining is can he return back to his rookie season form, or will he continue on a download spiral and in the process cost himself millions of dollars.  

Jumping into the offense, they may be in for a fortuitous surprise with the return of Tank dell seeming probable. Unfortunately, as the Law of Equivalent Exchange demands a return, Jyaden Higgins tore his ACL in camp. Going back to Dell, reports coming out of camp are saying that Dell is moving fantastic  and looking like his 2024 self. If Dell can replicate what he did his rookie season, it will open up the field for Stroud by giving him 3 solid weapons to throw to. One of them being his top 10 wide receiver Nico Collins and the other being Kayshon Boutte, who they acquired from the Patriots after Higgins went down. As for the ground attack, it was the glaring weakness of Houston's offense last year with alternation between Woody Marks and Nick Chubb. Houston changed that in a blink of an eye by trading for Montgomery this offseason from the Detroit Lions. Monty will give this backfield explosiveness, and physicality two traits that the backfield was desperately in search of last year. There is some concern for how well the offensive line will hold up for Stroud this season as only two players are returning from last year's squad. Despite the lack of chemistry that is bound to occur, I believe this O-line is better skill wise which will hopefully result in giving Stroud more clean pockets to throw from. Stroud is in such a unique circumstance because of how elite his defense is, he's not needed to be extraordinary just ordinary. Houston is hoping for Stroud to perform similar to how Sam Darnold did this past year and we have seen from his rookie season that he's more than capable of doing it, the only problem is will his mental fortitude allow him to get back to how he was 2 years ago.  

On the flip side, the Texans somehow got even better on defense, which I didn't think was possible considering how outstanding they were last year. In 2025 they finished second in total defense only behind the Super Bowl champs. In the playoffs they turned it up another notch recording nine sacks, two interceptions and three fumbles in the two games they played. In free agency they stacked up their secondary by adding Reed Blankenship from the Chiefs and in the draft went out and selected defensive end Kaydon McDonald from Ohio State who I can vouch for is a mammoth and will make running up the middle an opponent's nightmare. As I look over the starting 11, there are no weaknesses at any position. Moreover, their head coach DeMeco Ryans is one of the best defensive minds in the game and will continue to scheme up game plans to wreck opposing offenses. The only slight concern I have for the defense is that they do lack a bit of depth on the front lines as they lost their key rotational backup pieces to free agency. However, Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson will be plenty to deal with for opposing teams and that 2 headed monster may be enough to make depth irrelevant.  

My uncertainty with CJ Stroud and how that offensive line will play to start the season is the only reason I don't have the Texans winning this division. And due to the Jaguars continuity, I feel they will get a head start to begin the season, which will be enough to push them ahead of the Texans in the final regular season standings. Hence, why I have the Texans finishing 11-6 and 2nd place in the division. However, if the playoffs come around and Stroud has returned to his rookie season form, I would favor Houston over Jacksonville if they were to match up simply due to how great this Texans defense is. We saw last year in week 9 in the second half against Jacksonville how the Texans smothered Trevor Lawrence and that offense leading to them single-handedly getting Houston the win. The bottom line is if Stroud is competent, this team can compete and win against anyone in the NFL.