Legendary Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt said in an interview that the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs would be one of the better matchups in the NFL.
The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off their third Super Bowl win in the last five years. The Houston Texans are coming off a season in which they won a playoff game with their new rookie quarterback.
J.J. Watt wants to see C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans take on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs
Watt’s support for the potential matchup between the Texans and the Chiefs is based on the potential quarterback battle that would take place.
J.J. Watt @JJWatt would like to see #Texans open season against defending Super Bowl champion #Chiefs @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/7ldprcdZcL
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 4, 2024
Watt said he doesn’t know many matchups that would be better than Stroud and the Texans taking on Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Stroud is coming off a rookie season that ranks among the best in NFL history. Mahomes has already established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the history of the league.
The Kansas City Chiefs are showing no signs of slowing down
After a regular season that made the Chiefs look vulnerable, Mahomes and company found their way back into form as they entered the playoffs. For the third time in five years, they tore through their AFC competition and went on to win a Super Bowl.
As they enter the back half of the offseason, the Chiefs have not lost any extremely valuable players and have only seemed to improve.
They re-signed their star defensive tackle Chris Jones and added wide receiver Xavier Worthy in the 2024 NFL Draft. Worthy impressed at the NFL Scouting Combine with a 4.21-second 40-yard dash, which was the fastest 40-yard dash in the event’s history.
Kansas City also added wide receiver Marquise Brown to help Mahomes and the rest of the offense. If Mahomes and the Chiefs were able to win the Super Bowl with a receiving corp that is significantly worse than the one they will be heading into 2024 with, then it will be hard to see them taking a step back in any capacity.
The Houston Texans are one of the most promising teams in the NFL
The Texans already showed promise in 2023 with a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback. Now the pair of DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud will be heading into 2024 with a vastly improved roster and one year of experience under their belts.
Stroud was named the 2023 NFL Rookie of the Year with one of the best rookie seasons by a quarterback in NFL history. He had the third-most passing yards for a rookie in NFL history as well as becoming just the fourth rookie quarterback to have a passer rating greater than 100.
Now, Stroud will have a revamped offense to utilize in the 2024 season. The Texans made a move for star wide receiver Stefon Diggs on top of adding star running back Joe Mixon. Stroud explained he was excited to have a star like Diggs on his team in a Sports Illustrated article.
“I was very excited,” Stroud said. “I met him at the Pro Bowl. Just got to meet each other, to meet his kids, to see what type of person he was, just being able to grow our relationship from there. It’s really cool just to be able to not only go from that scene, to now him being a teammate of mine. Just really excited to get to work with him.”
Houston also added playmakers like Denico Autry and Danielle Hunter while keeping playmakers like Dalton Shultz and Noah Brown.
While J.J. Watt may be a little biased about the team he spent most of his career with, Watt is not alone in thinking the Texans may have a chance to compete at the highest level of the NFL in 2024.
