The Houston Texans have a lot of free agency decisions to make this offseason with 36 of the team’s own players who could hit the open market this spring.
Houston won’t be able to keep all of them but will undoubtedly prioritize the players who are instrumental to the team’s success. And with the third-most expected salary cap space in 2024, the Texans can easily afford to keep whomever they want out of that group.
So while players like tight end Dalton Schultz, running back Devin Singletary and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins are important, Pro Football Focus picked defense end Jonathan Greenard as the No. 1 free agent target the team should retain for 2024.
PFF noted that Greenard hit career-high marks under head coach DeMeco Ryans with a 12.4% pass-rush win rate, 53 pressures and 12.5 sacks. Greenard also finished with 19 run stops – which ranked in the top 20 among edge defenders in 2023.
This sentiment was shared by Ryans in his end-of-season press conference, where the coach said Greenard “did some really great things to allow us to be in the position to win some games.”
It remains to be seen what contract Greenard will command in 2024, but it stands to reason that he could be the Texans’ top target as far as in-house free agents are concerned.