With the regular season opener just a few days away, head coach Bill O'Brien feels confident about his starting offensive line. Throughout training camp, the Texans worked on a number of player combinations with rookies Tytus Howard and Max Scharping.
"I think we have a pretty good idea of who the five will be," O'Brien said Friday. "I think we've worked the five a lot - that will be the five on Monday. I really don't want to get into the details of that right now, but I do think we have a really good idea who those five will be."
The addition of left tackle Laremy Tunsil this week certainly helped finalize that decision. Tunsil, a former first-round NFL Draft pick (13th overall), started 44 games in three seasons for the Miami Dolphins. Tunsil's transition has been relatively smooth, coming from a similar system with the Dolphins.
"It's the same concepts, just different terminology, and that's what makes it easy," Tunsil said.
The Texans could see any combination of interior linemen against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night. Senio Kelemete started 15 games at left guard last season while Howard got a majority of his work at that position in training camp. Zach Fulton, now in his sixth NFL season, started 13 games at right guard, where Scharping has also impressed in camp. Nick Martin started all 16 games last year at center. Seantrel Henderson earned the starting role at right tackle before getting hurt last year in Week 1 at New England last year.
Howard and Zach Fulton were full participants in Friday's practice as the two guards work their way back from injury.
"It went OK yesterday," O'Brien said. "He (Howard) had a couple of really nice blocks in practice yesterday."
The Texans open their 2019 regular season at New Orleans on Monday Night Football. Kickoff is set for 6:10 p.m. CT on ESPN and SportsRadio 610.
