Top 3 Free Agents the Texans Could Sign

he Houston Texans are currently in the midst of hiring their sixth head coach in franchise history. This is an incredibly important decision, but the Texans can not hold their follow up interviews with DeMeco Ryans, Shane Steichen or Jonathan Gannon until Monday January 30th at the earliest. So now is a great time to start talking about free agency.

With $60-70 million in predicted cap space and a new head coach, it stands to reason that the Texans will make good use of free agency to supplement the 2023 draft. Like the Jacksonville Jaguars did last year, the Texans may have to pay higher than normal market rates to attract free agents to Houston. Here are three immediate impact players that the Texans could add to the roster and their estimated contract values.

Cincinnati Bengals Safety Jessie Bates

Bates was drafted by the Bengals in the 2nd round in 2018. He made the 2018 PFWA All-Rookie Team and made the Second team All-Pro in 2020. He is 6’1” and 200 pounds and he is 26 years old.

He has had a total of 464 tackles, 13 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 37 pass defections and 1 defensive touchdown in his NFL career. The Bengals will have to pay Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins quite soon and Bates could become a cap casualty. They already franchise tagged him last year and are not likely to tag him again.

Bates was the number one safety during the 2020 season, but he has not matched those numbers in the past two seasons. He is the 29th graded safety via PFF. He has had 4 interceptions, 9 pass break-ups, 1 tackle for loss and 39 solo tackles this year.

While some may believe that Houston’s defense did not make any progress last season, this simply is not true. The Texans finished the season as a top 10 passing defense by only allowing 209.3 yards through the air. It is true that our rush defense was the worst rushing defense in the league and teams chose to run the ball more than pass, but play makers like Derek Stingley, Jalen Pitre and Steven Nelson made opposing quarterbacks pay when they chose to throw. This was a significant improvement from last year when the Texans had a similarly poor rush defense. In 2021 the Texans had the 22nd ranked pass defense and in 2022 the Texans had the 10th ranked pass defense. Adding Jessie Bates, could significantly improve the progress the Texans have made to its passing defense.

Projected contract: 4 year $60M
($13-15M APY)

Washington Commanders Defensive Tackle Daron Payne

Payne was drafted by the Commanders in the first round in 2018. He made the 2018 PFWA All-Rookie Team and made the Pro Bowl in 2022. He has had 291 tackles, 26 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 14 pass deflections and 1 interception in his career. He is 6’2” and 311 pounds and he is 25 years old. Early in his career Payne showed he could be a stout run-defender from the nose tackle position. The Texans had the worst run defense in the league last year and the second worst run defense in 2021. Payne might be an expensive, but worthwhile investment. The Texans have the 2nd overall pick in the draft and will likely draft a quarterback at that spot, thus they will not be able to draft Jalen Carter or Will Anderson. Payne is a proven commodity that could help stop the run and deliver pressure immediately. Payne just had the best year of his career with with 11.5 sacks, the third-most of any defensive tackle in the NFL. Additionally, Payne's 18 tackles for loss led the league at his position. Washington just awarded Jonathan Allen with a four-year $72M contract. They are unlikely to give Payne a similar contract and if the Texans hire either Jonathan Gannon or DeMeco Ryans as head coach then Payne might be the one “splashy” free agent that is signed in free agency.

Projected contract: 4 year $80M ($18-20M APY)

New England Patriots Jakobi Meyers

Meyers was an undrafted free agent in 2019 and has developed into a solid WR2. He has had a total of 235 receptions and 2,758 yards and 8 touchdowns in his career. Six of those touchdowns happened this year. He is 6’1” and 203 pounds. Last off-season the Patriots placed a 2nd round restricted free agent tender on Meyers and he signed the tender worth $3.9M. After his best year of his short career, Meyers will look for a payday which the Patriots will likely avoid as the franchise has historically done. They refused to pay another undrafted agent, J.C. Jackson, just last year. The now infamous backward lateral that he threw during the Raiders game that was intercepted by Chandlier Jones did not do him any favors with Bill Belichick. Even though he was the Patriots leading receiver this year, he is not expected to return to New England.

Projected contract: 4 year $45M ($10-12M APY)

There will be plenty of mid-level free agents signed as we have done throughout this rebuild. However, with the cap space and new quarterback that we will draft the Texans could make one or two big moves in free agency this season