The Houston Texans pass rush was among the bottom feeders in the NFL in 2019. Once the most formidable unit on the team, the Texans produced 31 sacks, tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for the sixth-fewest in the NFL.
There were flashes of improvement from the Texans’ pass rush in their 10-6 campaign that secured the division title. Rookie defensive end Charles Omenihu produced 3.0 sacks. Outside linebacker Jacob Martin had 3.5 sacks in his second professional season, his first with Houston, and he didn’t join the team until Aug. 31.
Another one of the flashes of improvement came from outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett, who added 3.5 sacks of his own in his fourth year as an undrafted free agent. Those 3.5 sacks were tied for third-most on the team behind Mercilus’ 7.5 and defensive end J.J. Watt’s 4.0.
Scarlett’s best game of the season was Week 9 in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Wembley Stadium. The 6-4, 260-pound edge rusher sacked rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew 2.0 times, added a tackle for loss, and forced a fumble. The Texans swept the Jaguars with a 26-3 win.
The lone game Scarlett missed was Week 13 versus the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football at NRG Stadium. The Texans ended up beating the Patriots 28-22.
In the context of Scarlett’s production, 1.5 of his sacks came before Watt tore his pectoral muscle in the 27-24 win in Week 8 versus the Oakland Raiders. Scarlett’s six quarterback hits were the fifth-most on the team, and three of them came after Watt’s injury. In other words, Scarlett isn’t merely an opportunistic pass rusher that takes advantage of a star’s double teams; he can generate his own pressure.
New defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver will need as many bodies as he can get to swap in and harass opposing quarterbacks. Scarlett will be 27 years old by Week 1, and is starting to enter the phase of a pass rusher’s career where the on-field experience melds with the still potent physicality. If Scarlett can stay as healthy as he was in 2019, then the Texans should have a reliable edge rusher to improve their defense.