The Houston Texans have showed signs of life over the past three weeks. Houston is 6-5 heading into Week 13 and on a three-game winning streak thanks to their smothering defense. One NFL insider thinks Houston needs to lock up one of its defensive stars as quick as they can.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer made the argument in a recent article that Houston needs to extend Will Anderson Jr. as soon as possible.
Breer anticipates that Houston will offer an extension to Anderson at some point during the offseason. He cited how Houston treated cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.'s contract as an example.
Beyond the X's and O's, Breer believe that Anderson is a key building block for Houston who embodies their team culture. He pointed to one quote from his recent column to explain how much Anderson means to the Texans.
“Every single time that kid puts on a helmet, he plays that way and approaches it that way and trains that way and everything,” Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke told Breer. “So if you’re somebody else on this team, and I don’t think we have a lot of guys that are like that, but you’re someone else on this team who needs it, it’s like, Hey, if Will’s willing to do that, why aren’t you? He doesn’t need to say anything. It’s not like Will has to call people out. He just works.”
Anderson has played well ever since joining the Texans back in 2023. He is on pace for his best career season, already logging 23 total tackles with 10.5 sacks through Week 12.
“I’m having a hard time seeing why Houston wouldn’t extend him now, which is as much about who Anderson is as a person as it is about him as an incredible football player,” Breer concluded.
Houston has $168 million in cap space in 2027 and even more after that. That should leave them plenty of space to extend Anderson and still leave room for C.J. Stroud and other players.
But for now, Houston should focus on winning one game at a time.
Next up for the Texans is a Week 13 matchup against the Colts.
