RESEARCH STARTER

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas, and compete in the National Football League (NFL) as part of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Established in 2002, the Texans were created to fill the void left by the Houston Oilers, who relocated to Tennessee in 1997. Despite being one of the NFL's youngest franchises, the Texans have developed a loyal fan base, consistently drawing large crowds at NRG Stadium, their home venue, which features a retractable roof and can seat over 72,000 spectators.

Throughout their history, the Texans have faced challenges, notably being the only NFL team as of 2018 to have never reached a conference championship game. They have made five playoff appearances with a cumulative record of 3–5 in postseason games. The franchise has seen notable players such as wide receiver Andre Johnson and defensive end J.J. Watt, both of whom have significantly impacted the team’s identity. The Texans have also experienced various coaching changes, with Bill O'Brien serving as head coach for several seasons and leading the team to an AFC South division title. Overall, the Houston Texans stand as a testament to the city's resilience in the realm of professional sports.

Full Article

Quick Facts

  • Inaugural season: 2002
  • Home field: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
  • Owner: Janice and Cal McNair
  • Team colors: Dark blue, red, and white

Overview

The Houston Texans are a National Football League (NFL) franchise playing in the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. They are among the NFL's newest franchises, having only existed since 2002. Despite their relative status as a newcomer, the city of Houston has had a robust history as a host of professional football. The team nickname—the Texans—has a long lineage.

The Texans play in NRG Stadium (known from 2002 to 2014 as Reliant Stadium). This facility seats 72,220 people. Despite their limited record of on-the-field success, they are one of the best drawing teams in the NFL. The Texans regularly attract over 71,000 fans per game, or 99.7 percent of the seating capacity. This continued loyalty to the team, combined with Houston's large television market, led to a team valuation of $7.4 billion in 2025. This placed the Texans as the twelfth most valuable club in the NFL.

History

The Texans were born from Houston's disappointment after losing the Houston Oilers, the city's previous NFL franchise, in 1997. Shortly before the announcement that the Oilers would be moving to Nashville, billionaire Houstonian Bob McNair had sought to bring a National Hockey League (NHL) team to Houston. Hockey was the only major league sport missing from the city's roster of teams. The Oilers announced they were leaving only two weeks after the NHL passed over the city. Despite this setback, McNair knew the NFL was considering expanding from thirty to thirty-two teams. Cleveland, which had just lost its franchise in a move to Baltimore, was favored to receive one of the teams, but the second was believed to be wide open. McNair worked with the city of Houston to build an NFL-ready football stadium.

In 1998, Cleveland was awarded the thirty-first franchise, with Toronto, Los Angeles, and Houston rated the best candidates for the thirty-second. On March 16, 1999, Los Angeles was awarded the final expansion franchise; however, their bid was contingent on constructing a new stadium and organizing its investors into a single group. As the months dragged on, it became clear that Los Angeles could not fulfill either aspect of the NFL's obligations for receiving a franchise. On October 9, 1999, the franchise was instead awarded to McNair and Houston for $700 million.

After a series of focus groups and an intense study, the new Houston franchise was named the Texans, the sixth professional football team to use the moniker and the first since the 1990–1993 Arena Football League Dallas Texans. McNair's other choices were the Apollos and the Stallions. Dom Capers, the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was chosen as the Texans' first coach. The team was assembled from free agency, the 2002 NFL Draft, and a special expansion draft held in February 2002. This draft comprised players whose current teams had not been protected from selection. Houston selected four former Pro Bowlers in the expansion draft: Tony Boselli and Gary Walker of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets, and Jermaine Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. In the NFL Draft, they chose quarterback David Carr from Fresno State University with the first overall pick.

The Texans were paired with intrastate rival Dallas Cowboys in their first game. The Texans won 19–10, becoming the first expansion team to win its inaugural match since 1961. However, the remainder of the season more accurately reflected the limited expectations for an expansion team, and the Texans finished with a 4–12 record. Under Capers, Houston went 18–46 over four seasons, and he was fired after a 2–14 campaign in 2005. He was replaced by Gary Kubiak, the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos. Kubiak started 37–43 during the first five seasons of his tenure, but Texans management elected for patience. The team allowed Kubiak and new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips to continue the rebuilding project. Despite experiencing several critical injuries, the Texans displayed a new defensive scheme that pushed them to their first-ever playoff appearance in 2011. They advanced to the divisional playoffs with a 31–10 playoff win over the Cincinnati Bengals before losing to the Baltimore Ravens 20–13. The Texans advanced to the playoffs the following season with a 12–4 record, again recording a playoff win over Cincinnati before losing 41–28 to the New England Patriots.

Despite this incremental success, the Texans bottomed out in 2013, and Kubiak was fired with three games left in a 2–14 campaign. He was replaced by Bill O'Brien, the head coach of Penn State University. Entering the season with a fourteen-game losing streak, the Texans started the season with a win over the Washington Redskins on the way to a 9–7 season. During the next four seasons, O'Brien coached the Texans to an AFC South Division title and three playoff berths. Despite this new return to respectability, the Texans could only muster a single playoff win, 27–14, over the Oakland Raiders. This was their first win over a team other than Cincinnati. In 2018, the Texans were again tops in the AFC South and garnered their second-best-ever record at 11–5, including a 19–16 overtime victory over their heated rivals Dallas in Week 5. However, their playoff difficulties continued in a season-ending 21–7 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. In November 2018, owner Bob McNair died, leaving the team to his wife, Janice, and son, Cal.

The Texans suffered three consecutive losing seasons and no playoff appearances from 2020 to 2022 before hiring DeMeco Ryans as head coach in 2023. Ryans and the Texans surprised the football world by assembling a competitive team that won the AFC South in 2023 under rookie quarterback C. J. Stroud. Rookie Will Anderson Jr. contributed strong defensive play and finished the year with seven sacks and forty-five tackles. The Texans beat the Cleveland Browns 45–14 in the Wild Card Round before losing to Baltimore 34–10 in the Divisional playoffs. Stroud was named the 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, while Anderson received Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. The team's success continued in the following year, finishing the season with a 10–7 record that qualified them for the playoffs. The Texans beat the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round.

Notable players

As a young franchise, the Houston Texans have had only two members elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The first is safety Ed Reed, who played the 2013 season with Houston. Reed, however, was named to the Hall of Fame for his career work with the Baltimore Ravens. In 2024, the NFL announced that wide receiver Andre Johnson had been selected for the Hall. A veteran of 14 NFL seasons, Johnson spent the first twelve years of his career in Houston. Johnson is the Texans' all-time receiving leader with 13,955 yards. He was selected to seven Pro Bowl teams.

The best-known Texan is likely defensive end J.J. Watt, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner. Drafted by the Texans in the first round of the 2011 draft, he played for the Texans for ten seasons until 2020. Watt spent the next two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before retiring in December 2022. As a Texan, Watt was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and was awarded the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2017. Watt is anticipated to join Andre Johnson in the Hall of Fame in the future.

Twenty-six Texan players have been selected for the Pro Bowl fifty-eight times, with Andre Johnson's seven selections a franchise-high. Like other NFL teams, the Texans have a team equivalent to the Hall of Fame, called the Texans Ring of Honor. In October 2023, J.J. Watt joined Andre Johnson and late owner Bob McNair as the sole inductees to the Houston Texans Ring of Honor.

Other players with multiple selections to the Pro Bowl include running back Arian Foster (2009–2015), the team's all-time leading rusher; offensive tackle Duane Brown (2008–2017), and quarterback Deshaun Watson (2017-2021). Four Texans have been honored as Rookie of the Year: linebackers DeMeco Ryans (2006–2011) in 2006, Brian Cushing (2009–2017) in 2009, quarterback C.J. Stroud, and defensive end Will Anderson Jr., both in 2023.

Other key players for the Texans on the defensive side of the ball include defensive end Mario Williams (2006–2011), who had accumulated 192 tackles and 53 sacks in his career with the Texans; cornerbacks Dunta Robinson (2004–2009), Kareem Jackson (2010–2018), and Johnathan Joseph (2011–2019); and linebackers Connor Barwin (2009–2012) and Jadeveon Clowney (2014–2018), who was the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Notable players on the offensive side of the ball include tight end Owen Daniels (2006–2013), who was selected to two Pro Bowls in his career; quarterback Matt Schaub (2007–2013), the team's all-time leading passer; center Chris Myers (2008–2014), a two-time Pro Bowl selection; offensive tackle Eric Winston (2006–2011), who started every game for the Texans between 2007 and 2011; and kicker Kris Brown (2002–2009). Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (2013–2019) was arguably the NFL's best wide receiver of the late 2010s and tallied over 8,600 yards and 54 touchdowns in seven seasons with the Texans before being signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2020.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson, selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, quickly rose to become a team leader and one of the NFL's top young players. Watson made the first of three consecutive Pro Bowls in 2018. Watson's standout play led to the Texans awarding him a four-year contract for $177 million through 2025. Nonetheless, the decision to make Watson the cornerstone of the team's future proved disastrous. In 2021, Watson was sued for sexual misconduct by twenty-four women. Watson avoided further legal action by reaching financial settlements with twenty-two of the claimants. Nonetheless, his tenure as the Texans' quarterback became untenable, and he was traded to Cleveland in 2022.  


Bibliography

Gurzi, Randy. “Houston Texans: Top 25 Players of All-Time.” Toro Times, 27 July 2012, torotimes.com/2015/08/18/houston-texans-top-25-players-of-all-time. Accessed 30 July 2019.

“Houston Texans Sports Team History.” Sports Team History, sportsteamhistory.com/houston-texans. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

“Houston Texans Team History.” Pro Football Hall of Fame, www.profootballhof.com/teams/houston-texans/team-history. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Houston Texans. Houston Texans Webite, 2024, www.houstontexans.com. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

“Major Pro and College Sports Teams Ranked by Market Size." Sports Media Watch, 2024, www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

“NFL Attendance – 2025.” ESPN, 2025, www.espn.com/nfl/attendance. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

"#12 Houston Texans." Forbes, Aug. 2025, www.forbes.com/teams/houston-texans/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025. 

Planas, Antonio, and Diana Dasrath. "Deshaun Watson Settles 20 of 24 Sexual Misconduct Cases Against Him, Women’s Lawyer Says." NBC News, 21 June 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/deshaun-watson-settles-20-24-sexual-misconduct-cases-womens-lawyer-say-rcna34569. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

Tucker, Anne Wilkes, et al. First Down, Houston: The Birth of an NFL Franchise. Museum of Fine Arts, 2003.



Full Article

Quick Facts

  • Inaugural season: 2002
  • Home field: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
  • Owner: Janice and Cal McNair
  • Team colors: Dark blue, red, and white

Overview

The Houston Texans are a National Football League (NFL) franchise playing in the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. They are among the NFL's newest franchises, having only existed since 2002. Despite their relative status as a newcomer, the city of Houston has had a robust history as a host of professional football. The team nickname—the Texans—has a long lineage.

The Texans play in NRG Stadium (known from 2002 to 2014 as Reliant Stadium). This facility seats 72,220 people. Despite their limited record of on-the-field success, they are one of the best drawing teams in the NFL. The Texans regularly attract over 71,000 fans per game, or 99.7 percent of the seating capacity. This continued loyalty to the team, combined with Houston's large television market, led to a team valuation of $7.4 billion in 2025. This placed the Texans as the twelfth most valuable club in the NFL.

History

The Texans were born from Houston's disappointment after losing the Houston Oilers, the city's previous NFL franchise, in 1997. Shortly before the announcement that the Oilers would be moving to Nashville, billionaire Houstonian Bob McNair had sought to bring a National Hockey League (NHL) team to Houston. Hockey was the only major league sport missing from the city's roster of teams. The Oilers announced they were leaving only two weeks after the NHL passed over the city. Despite this setback, McNair knew the NFL was considering expanding from thirty to thirty-two teams. Cleveland, which had just lost its franchise in a move to Baltimore, was favored to receive one of the teams, but the second was believed to be wide open. McNair worked with the city of Houston to build an NFL-ready football stadium.

In 1998, Cleveland was awarded the thirty-first franchise, with Toronto, Los Angeles, and Houston rated the best candidates for the thirty-second. On March 16, 1999, Los Angeles was awarded the final expansion franchise; however, their bid was contingent on constructing a new stadium and organizing its investors into a single group. As the months dragged on, it became clear that Los Angeles could not fulfill either aspect of the NFL's obligations for receiving a franchise. On October 9, 1999, the franchise was instead awarded to McNair and Houston for $700 million.

After a series of focus groups and an intense study, the new Houston franchise was named the Texans, the sixth professional football team to use the moniker and the first since the 1990–1993 Arena Football League Dallas Texans. McNair's other choices were the Apollos and the Stallions. Dom Capers, the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was chosen as the Texans' first coach. The team was assembled from free agency, the 2002 NFL Draft, and a special expansion draft held in February 2002. This draft comprised players whose current teams had not been protected from selection. Houston selected four former Pro Bowlers in the expansion draft: Tony Boselli and Gary Walker of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets, and Jermaine Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. In the NFL Draft, they chose quarterback David Carr from Fresno State University with the first overall pick.

The Texans were paired with intrastate rival Dallas Cowboys in their first game. The Texans won 19–10, becoming the first expansion team to win its inaugural match since 1961. However, the remainder of the season more accurately reflected the limited expectations for an expansion team, and the Texans finished with a 4–12 record. Under Capers, Houston went 18–46 over four seasons, and he was fired after a 2–14 campaign in 2005. He was replaced by Gary Kubiak, the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos. Kubiak started 37–43 during the first five seasons of his tenure, but Texans management elected for patience. The team allowed Kubiak and new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips to continue the rebuilding project. Despite experiencing several critical injuries, the Texans displayed a new defensive scheme that pushed them to their first-ever playoff appearance in 2011. They advanced to the divisional playoffs with a 31–10 playoff win over the Cincinnati Bengals before losing to the Baltimore Ravens 20–13. The Texans advanced to the playoffs the following season with a 12–4 record, again recording a playoff win over Cincinnati before losing 41–28 to the New England Patriots.

Despite this incremental success, the Texans bottomed out in 2013, and Kubiak was fired with three games left in a 2–14 campaign. He was replaced by Bill O'Brien, the head coach of Penn State University. Entering the season with a fourteen-game losing streak, the Texans started the season with a win over the Washington Redskins on the way to a 9–7 season. During the next four seasons, O'Brien coached the Texans to an AFC South Division title and three playoff berths. Despite this new return to respectability, the Texans could only muster a single playoff win, 27–14, over the Oakland Raiders. This was their first win over a team other than Cincinnati. In 2018, the Texans were again tops in the AFC South and garnered their second-best-ever record at 11–5, including a 19–16 overtime victory over their heated rivals Dallas in Week 5. However, their playoff difficulties continued in a season-ending 21–7 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. In November 2018, owner Bob McNair died, leaving the team to his wife, Janice, and son, Cal.

The Texans suffered three consecutive losing seasons and no playoff appearances from 2020 to 2022 before hiring DeMeco Ryans as head coach in 2023. Ryans and the Texans surprised the football world by assembling a competitive team that won the AFC South in 2023 under rookie quarterback C. J. Stroud. Rookie Will Anderson Jr. contributed strong defensive play and finished the year with seven sacks and forty-five tackles. The Texans beat the Cleveland Browns 45–14 in the Wild Card Round before losing to Baltimore 34–10 in the Divisional playoffs. Stroud was named the 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, while Anderson received Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. The team's success continued in the following year, finishing the season with a 10–7 record that qualified them for the playoffs. The Texans beat the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round.

Notable players

As a young franchise, the Houston Texans have had only two members elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The first is safety Ed Reed, who played the 2013 season with Houston. Reed, however, was named to the Hall of Fame for his career work with the Baltimore Ravens. In 2024, the NFL announced that wide receiver Andre Johnson had been selected for the Hall. A veteran of 14 NFL seasons, Johnson spent the first twelve years of his career in Houston. Johnson is the Texans' all-time receiving leader with 13,955 yards. He was selected to seven Pro Bowl teams.

The best-known Texan is likely defensive end J.J. Watt, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner. Drafted by the Texans in the first round of the 2011 draft, he played for the Texans for ten seasons until 2020. Watt spent the next two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before retiring in December 2022. As a Texan, Watt was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and was awarded the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2017. Watt is anticipated to join Andre Johnson in the Hall of Fame in the future.

Twenty-six Texan players have been selected for the Pro Bowl fifty-eight times, with Andre Johnson's seven selections a franchise-high. Like other NFL teams, the Texans have a team equivalent to the Hall of Fame, called the Texans Ring of Honor. In October 2023, J.J. Watt joined Andre Johnson and late owner Bob McNair as the sole inductees to the Houston Texans Ring of Honor.

Other players with multiple selections to the Pro Bowl include running back Arian Foster (2009–2015), the team's all-time leading rusher; offensive tackle Duane Brown (2008–2017), and quarterback Deshaun Watson (2017-2021). Four Texans have been honored as Rookie of the Year: linebackers DeMeco Ryans (2006–2011) in 2006, Brian Cushing (2009–2017) in 2009, quarterback C.J. Stroud, and defensive end Will Anderson Jr., both in 2023.

Other key players for the Texans on the defensive side of the ball include defensive end Mario Williams (2006–2011), who had accumulated 192 tackles and 53 sacks in his career with the Texans; cornerbacks Dunta Robinson (2004–2009), Kareem Jackson (2010–2018), and Johnathan Joseph (2011–2019); and linebackers Connor Barwin (2009–2012) and Jadeveon Clowney (2014–2018), who was the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Notable players on the offensive side of the ball include tight end Owen Daniels (2006–2013), who was selected to two Pro Bowls in his career; quarterback Matt Schaub (2007–2013), the team's all-time leading passer; center Chris Myers (2008–2014), a two-time Pro Bowl selection; offensive tackle Eric Winston (2006–2011), who started every game for the Texans between 2007 and 2011; and kicker Kris Brown (2002–2009). Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (2013–2019) was arguably the NFL's best wide receiver of the late 2010s and tallied over 8,600 yards and 54 touchdowns in seven seasons with the Texans before being signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2020.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson, selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, quickly rose to become a team leader and one of the NFL's top young players. Watson made the first of three consecutive Pro Bowls in 2018. Watson's standout play led to the Texans awarding him a four-year contract for $177 million through 2025. Nonetheless, the decision to make Watson the cornerstone of the team's future proved disastrous. In 2021, Watson was sued for sexual misconduct by twenty-four women. Watson avoided further legal action by reaching financial settlements with twenty-two of the claimants. Nonetheless, his tenure as the Texans' quarterback became untenable, and he was traded to Cleveland in 2022.  


Bibliography

Gurzi, Randy. “Houston Texans: Top 25 Players of All-Time.” Toro Times, 27 July 2012, torotimes.com/2015/08/18/houston-texans-top-25-players-of-all-time. Accessed 30 July 2019.

“Houston Texans Sports Team History.” Sports Team History, sportsteamhistory.com/houston-texans. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

“Houston Texans Team History.” Pro Football Hall of Fame, www.profootballhof.com/teams/houston-texans/team-history. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.

Houston Texans. Houston Texans Webite, 2024, www.houstontexans.com. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

“Major Pro and College Sports Teams Ranked by Market Size." Sports Media Watch, 2024, www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

“NFL Attendance – 2025.” ESPN, 2025, www.espn.com/nfl/attendance. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

"#12 Houston Texans." Forbes, Aug. 2025, www.forbes.com/teams/houston-texans/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025. 

Planas, Antonio, and Diana Dasrath. "Deshaun Watson Settles 20 of 24 Sexual Misconduct Cases Against Him, Women’s Lawyer Says." NBC News, 21 June 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/deshaun-watson-settles-20-24-sexual-misconduct-cases-womens-lawyer-say-rcna34569. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

Tucker, Anne Wilkes, et al. First Down, Houston: The Birth of an NFL Franchise. Museum of Fine Arts, 2003.



More Like ThisRelated Articles

Related Articles (5)

Related Articles (5)