How high is the ceiling for Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and this Texans offense in 2019?
Our analysts rank all their key players by scoring format, project their season-long stat lines and analyze their overall outlooks heading into the season.
.png)
Texans Fantasy Rankings, Projections
Editor's note: News broke that Lamar Miller (torn ACL) is out for the season after we first published this piece. Get our experts' updated rankings and projections for Duke Johnson and Co. in our Draft Kit.
Deshaun Watson, QB
- Pass: 339 comp | 511 att | 66.3 comp% | 4,092 yds | 28.5 TDs | 12.2 INTs
- Rush: 91 car | 535 yds | 4.4 TDs
Lamar Miller, RB
- Rush: 214 car | 921 yds | 5.4 TDs
- Rec: 21 catches | 171 yds | 0.9 TDs
Duke Johnson Jr., RB
- Rush: 54 car | 240 yds | 1.2 TDs
- Rec: 30 catches | 258 yds | 1.3 TDs
DeAndre Hopkins, WR
- Rec: 99.6 catches | 1400 yds | 10.4 TDs
Keke Coutee, WR
- Rec: 53.4 catches | 607 yds | 3.5 TDs
Will Fuller V, WR
- Rec: 51.6 catches | 766 yds | 6.5 TDs
Jordan Thomas, TE
- Rec: 19 catches | 209 yds | 2.1 TDs
Jordan Akins, TE
- Rec: 16 catches | 200 yds | 1.1 TDs
Note: Projections as of August 22.
Texans Fantasy Outlooks
Chris Raybon breaks down Bill O'Brien's playcalling tendencies to forecast who will benefit most.
- In the seven games Will Fuller and Keke Coutee both missed last season, DeAndre Hopkins operated more as an underneath receiver, commanding 12.0 targets per game at an average depth of 10.2 yards and posting a 8.6-106-0.57 line. In the nine games at least one of the two played, Hopkins dropped to 8.8 targets per game, but they came at an average depth of 14.4 yards, netting a 6.1-93.4-0.78 line. And in the four games which both of them played, Hopkins saw 9.8 targets at a depth of 13.8 yards and put up a 6.8-108.3-0.75 line. In other words, he'll get his WR1 numbers regardless of scheme.
- Fuller saw 8.7 targets per game without Coutee, but only 4.8 in four games with him, while Coutee saw 7.5 targets with Fuller, 3.6 without — but the small sample is no more reliable than their brittle bodies.
- In his first season with Houston, Lamar Miller handled 19.1 carries and 2.8 targets per game. In the two since, that's down at 15.0 carries and 2.7 targets. O'Brien gave D’Onta Foreman 9.3 touches per game in 2017 and Alfred Blue 9.5 in 2018 in games Miller was active, which is line with Duke Johnson's career average of 8.4 touches per game. The third-down back role "addresses a hole O'Brien has long wanted to fill," according to Aaron Reiss of The Athletic. Miller saw 37% of his targets come on third or fourth down last season, and he would have lost 1.6 PPR and 0.9 standard points per game without them. That would have dropped him from RB23 to RB31 in PPR and RB22 to RB25 in standard.
