Nick Caserio and the Houston Texans have their work cut out for them during the NFL offseason.
After coming up short in 2024 and losing in the divisional round of the playoffs, it's clear that the Texans need more talent. However, they are also facing some financial constraints that could stop them from being able to make sizable additions.
With that in mind, could Houston consider shaking some things up via the trade market and trying to shed some salary?
That is exactly the route that Ian Valentino of The 33rd Team could see them taking.
In his new piece looking at potential surprising trade candidates around the NFL, he mentioned Texans' star left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
"It'd be a tough sell to C.J. Stroud and DeMeco Ryans that moving Tunsil now is a good move, but getting younger and cheaper will always be attractive to a front office," Valentino wrote. "Tunsil already has the third-highest left tackle deal in the league, and a new contract will surely put him above Trent Williams at $27.55 million per year."
At 30 years old, Houston could see Tunsil as not fitting the current timeline of the team. Trading him for cap relief and for valuable draft capital might be a direction that they have interest in.
While it's an option, it's not incredibly likely. Moving on from a left tackle as good as Tunsil would take away C.J. Stroud's best protector. At this stage in the young quarterback's career, that could be extremely detrimental to his development.
Instead, it's more likely that the Texans will look to get creative and add talent. They might not be able to swing for the biggest names, but they could look to pick up some pieces that other teams don't want and turn them into key pieces in Houston.
All of that being said, it will be interesting to see what the Texans end up doing this offseason. Don't expect to see Tunsil get traded.
