A new day is dawning in Houston. After going 3-13-1 last season under Lovie Smith, the team hired San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans as their head coach, drafted Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud to be their quarterback of the future, and shored up their leaky defense with the signing of plenty of impact veterans. But even with all of those signings, they still enter the season as long shots to win the Super Bowl.
The Texans are +800 to win the AFC South and +20000 to win the Super Bowl at DraftKings Sportsbook. Their win total is set at 6.5
Texans Super Bowl odds: +20000
At +20000, the Texans have the second-worst Super Bowl odds in the entire NFL. While Stroud impressed during the preseason and will enter the regular season with a fair bit of Rookie of the Year hype, he’s still a 21-year-old who has yet to prove anything in the NFL. The biggest improvement would need to come on the defensive side, specifically in relation to the rushing attack, as the team had the worst rush defense in the entire NFL last season.
Texans AFC South division title odds: +800
The Texans have the worst odds to win the AFC South for a lot of the same reasons listed above. The Jacksonville Jaguars have the best odds at -155, followed by the Titans (+350) and the Colts (+600). The Texans last won the AFC South in 2019.
It makes sense that the Jaguars have the best odds, as they’re the reigning division champions and are coming off a postseason that featured an upset win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Texans are playing with house money this season and will spend most of the fall and winter evaluating Stroud and the team’s other rookies to see who will stick around for the next core, but there’s still a chance the Texans could win the division; they’d just likely need to go 4-2 (at worst) against the division to have a chance.
Texans win total odds: Over 6.5 (+110); Under 6.5 (-130)
I like this under, but I think it’ll be close. The Texans have a lot more talent this season compared to last year, and the biggest thing factor will come down to how quickly the team meshes. If Stroud begins to find a connection with some of his receivers then this team will have a bonafide offense for the first time since Deshaun Watson manned the helm, but I can’t see the defense catching up as quickly.