One trade, cut, signing the Houston Texans should make

In one season, head coach DeMeco Ryans turned the Houston Texans from a lowly 3-13-1 bottom feeder into a 10-7 playoff contender. Ryans has something special going on in Houston. 

Here are three moves the Texans should make to help them return to the playoffs in 2024:

TRADE: QB Davis Mills to the New York Jets for a 2024 sixth-round pick

Jets owner Woody Johnson boldly stated a few weeks ago that New York needed a backup quarterback in 2024 because it didn’t have one in 2023 — which was no doubt a shot at Zach Wilson. With Aaron Rodgers’ age and injury concerns, who better to back him up than a 25-year-old former third-round pick with 26 games of starting experience?

Given the circumstances of his first two years in the NFL when the Texans had one of the worst rosters, Mills performed admirably (5,782 yards, 33 touchdowns, 25 interceptions). If Rodgers were to go down again at any point in 2024, Mills has the experience and skill set to do for the Jets what Gardner Minshew did for the Indianapolis Colts this year: keep the team afloat while still challenging for a playoff spot.

CUT: WR Robert Woods

With nearly $70 million in cap space, it’s not a necessity for the Texans to start cutting veteran players to save some money. But Woods makes $9.75M a year and there’s no need to keep him around with a crowder WR room that includes Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Noah Brown, John Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson. Cutting Woods would save Houston $5M and open the door for increased roles for some of the team’s younger receivers.

SIGNING: RB Saquon Barkley

Quarterback C.J. Stroud had a fantastic rookie year, but there were times when he needed more help from a running game (Houston had just three games with a 100-yard rusher). After falling just shy of 1,000 yards rushing as a rookie, Dameon Pierce mustered just 416 yards in Year 2, and Devin Singletary, a solid No. 2 back, totaled 898 yards while playing a lot more than he probably should have.

Enter Barkley, who’s rushed for over 1,000 yards three times and scored double-digit touchdowns three times since entering the NFL in 2018. Barkley, who's been linked to the Texans recently, is a dual threat out of the backfield (he’s had 40 or more receptions in five of his six seasons) and he can handle the kind of workload (25 to 30 touches per game) that can help take some of the pressure of Stroud’s shoulders.