After trading away left tackle Laremy Tunsil and guard Kenyon Green to start NFL free agency, the Houston Texans finally made an offensive line addition to help out young quarterback C.J. Stroud.
According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, the Texans agreed to a one-year, $4.25 million deal with veteran guard Laken Tomlinson. Tomlinson’s deal with Houston reportedly has a max value of $5 million.
The 33-year-old Tomlinson will likely take over the right guard spot in 2025 as Kendrick Green is an unrestricted free agent. The veteran offensive lineman played with the Seattle Seahawks last season, starting in all 17 games at left guard.
According to PFF, Tomlinson had a 65.1 pass block (54th among 135 qualified guards) and 59.7 run blocking (77th) grades. However, the veteran lineman was penalized five times and gave up six sacks in 1,094 snaps, which will not excite the Texans’ fan base.
In 2024, the Texans’ offensive line struggled mightily as Stroud ran for his life. The former Ohio State star was sacked 52 times, a notable increase from his rookie season (38 in 2023).
Texans fans would love to see that number go down in 2025 as the last time they saw the o-line, it got crushed by the Kansas City Chiefs defense in the divisional round. The Chiefs sacked the young quarterback eight times and had 14 quarterback hits.
It was an unacceptable performance and likely played a part in the Texans making wholesale changes upfront. That said, the Tomlinson signing isn’t a needle-mover, Houston needs to make more moves to address the trenches in free agency or the draft.
Tomlinson solves the right guard problem, but the Texans might want to consider a move at either tackle spot before Week 1 kicks off in September. It's hard to win in the NFL when your QB does not have a clean pocket.