Houston Texans right tackle Tytus Howard is still recovering from a knee injury that limited his rookie season to eight games.
In Week 6, Howard partially tore his MCL in his right knee. While he made it back for Weeks 9-12, which had a bye week sandwiched in between, Howard was placed on injured reserve shortly before the club’s Week 13 Sunday night showdown with the New England Patriots.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Howard told Drew Dougherty of Texans TV. “I’m still in the rehab process. I’m excited to be ready for this season. I’m just I’m just ready to get back on the field, and do what I can do to help my team win football games.”
Howard will be a part of a five-man offensive line that returns the same set of starters for the first time in the Deshaun Watson era. Even though Howard can’t be on the practice field with his other offensive linemen, he watches how their games are played to still be in touch with their style.
“I’ve just been tuning into how they see football so I can see it through their view and also play the way I play,” said Howard.
Howard was a bookend to a pair of tackles that featured Laremy Tunsil on the left side. The former Miami Dolphins 2016 first-round pick earned his first career Pro Bowl with the Texans. Second-round rookie Max Scharping manned left guard, and veteran Zach Fulton played right guard. Nick Martin, who plays center, has endeavored throughout his time in Houston to form unit cohesion since 2016.
The former 2019 first-round pick from Alabama State was nonetheless impactful in his limited games. Howard earned a place on the Pro Football Writers of America’s all-rookie team. If Howard can recover from his knee injury and be in full form in 2020, the Texans will have one of the fundamental aspects to winning football games in a solid offensive line.