Texans Regular Season Opponents Locked In For 2024 Campaign
The Houston Texans won't know their schedule until April, but they do know their opponents for 2024.
Houston will have eight home games and nine road games in 2024 after securing its first division title since 2019. The Texans will also face off against opponents AFC East and NFC North as part of the league's in-division rotation schedule.
Last season, the Texans faced the AFC North and NFC South. Home games were against the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns while away games were against the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
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Coincidently, the Texans faced the Browns and Ravens in their latest postseason run in the same locations. Houston secured revenge over a Week 16 loss to the Browns with a 45-14 victory in the wild-card round. Houston lost 34-10 the following week to Baltimore in the divisional round.
Home games will be against the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and Chicago Bears.
Away games will be against Colts, Jaguars, and Titans as part of the division schedule, along with the Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and Dallas Cowboys.
Houston faced off against the Jets last season on the road as part of its fourth-place schedule, losing 30-6. Quarterback C.J. Stroud suffered a concussion during the fourth quarter and was sidelined for two games, factoring into the Texans' 10-7 regular season record.
Since the NFL added a 17th game to the regular season, each AFC division squares off against an NFC division, with the corresponding place-holders facing the other. Because the Texans won their division, they'll travel to AT&T Stadium to face the Cowboys.
Houston hopes to build off a promising first season under head coach DeMeco Ryans and looks to avoid the trap Jacksonville fell into a season ago. After finishing in fourth place in 2021, the Jaguars won the AFC South after taking on teams with a fourth-place record.
A year later with a first-place schedule, Jacksonville finished 9-8, finishing second in the division while missing the postseason. The Texans finished 4-2 in the division, splitting wins with the Colts and Jaguars while sweeping the Titans.
“I feel good about our season and what we were able to accomplish," said Ryans. "As I told our guys today, just be proud of what we were able to do. This league is a year-to-year business, and you just always embrace the moments that you have with the people that you’re around because, as we know, teams change, staffs change, a lot of change happens on a year-to-year basis. So, just embrace that."
Significant change could be headed to the Texans' locker room depending on free agency as several key contributors are set to hit the open market, including defensive end Jonathan Greenard, tight end Dalton Schultz, linebacker Blake Cashman, running back Devin Singletary, cornerback Steven Nelson and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, among others.
Houston enters the offseason just over $71.5 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap, which ranks third among NFL teams.
The NFL free agency period begins on March 13.
