Houston Texans: Rookie tight ends need more playing time, immediately

The Houston Texans selected two tight ends in the 2018 draft, however, they have played sparingly so far. Here’s why they need more snaps, immediately.

Tomorrow, the Houston Texans will have their second divisional matchup, this time against the Indianapolis Colts. The two teams will face off in Indianapolis at 12:00 pm CT. You can catch the game on CBS or follow along on the radio on SportsTalk 610 and 100.3 The Bull.

This will be the Texans first time facing Andrew Luck in years. Luck is, naturally, still shaking off the rust but he is quickly regaining his form and the Colts are starting to look more and more dangerous. However, the Colts, like the Texans, are having offensive line woes, in terms of both poor play and injuries.

The Colts have accomplished more than the Texans at this point as their record sits at 1-2. However, these two teams should be fairly evenly matched. Hopefully, the Houston Texans defense will be able to stymie the Colts offense and carry this team to victory.

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On the offensive side of the ball for the Texans, there have been extremely high points and very, very low points. At times, Deshaun Watson has looked like a shell of the guy that was crowned king of the young quarterbacks and at other times he’s looked like he’s belonged in that upper echelon of signal callers.

Some of the blame can be placed upon an improved yet poor playing offensive line but not all of the blame. The run game has had a large amount of success which has helped the offense but in order to really ignite the offense the passing game needs to be solid from start to finish.

The Texans love using a tight end in their offense and so far, the team has used Ryan Griffin as the starter in every game and he has played 167 snaps this season. The other two tight ends on the roster, Jordan Akins, a third-round pick, and Jordan Thomas, a sixth-round pick, have only played 130 snaps combined.

That is a huge disparity in favor of a guy that is more expensive, is 5+ years older, and is less suited for this offense. Griffin has been a solid contributor for the Texans for five years but he is better suited for a reserve role and a role where he blocks more than he goes out for routes.

However, 95 of his 167 snaps have been out passing snaps so only 72 of them have been staying in and blocking. Those 72 snaps paint a much better picture of Griffin than the 95, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). While neither has been outstanding, he is grading out as a league average blocker and far below average receiver.

Akins and Thomas have stood out to be better options in the passing game. To be sure, both rookies have had significantly less playing time than Griffin but have graded out better and project better long term than Griffin.

Running either Akins or Thomas with the starters would immediately bolster the passing attack. Thomas, in his limited snaps, has graded out as “elite” according to PFF. In the times he’s stayed in to block, he has also graded out very good. Both of those grades would assuredly drop once he got more playing time but he projects well.

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Akins has played more snaps than Thomas but also less than Griffin. His larger sample size has naturally forced his grade to be lower than Thomas’ elite grade but he still has performed much better than Griffin in both blocking snaps and pass snaps.

Griffin is a solid tight end, don’t get me wrong. However, playing Akins and/or Thomas would bolster the offense and give Watson better and more reliable options. Surrounding him with as many options as possible is obviously the best solution.

Making this decision would give the offense a much needed boost. It may also be the extra juice this offense needs to start winning games. Heck, it may even begin to be enough to change the perception of Bill O’Brien, who is currently on the hot seat.

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