Five Best Houston Texans at Quarter Season Mark, According to PFF

It was a rocky first quarter of the season for the Houston Texans, with an 0-3 start that gave us way too many opportunities to reminisce about the 2018 Houston Texans, and their 0-3 start that turned into a playoff berth, the only teams to accomplish that off an 0-3 start this century. 

Indeed, that’s way too much Bill O’Brien in my life. Thankfully, the Texans were able to close out the quarter-season mark (well, four games out of seventeen, so close to quarter) with a win versus the Titans. That’s made the week more pleasant. We’ll see if they can take advantage of a wounded Ravens squad on Sunday. 

For now, let’s recognize the big performers four games in, and we will use the very helpful, but sometimes controversial, Pro Football Focus player grades to do so. These are subjective grades from human scorekeepers who watch every player on every play. The five best Houston Texans may not match YOUR eye test, but the PFF scores certainly make for lively debate.

Without further ado, here are the five best Texans, according to their relative player score at their position on PFF: 

5. SHELDON RANKINS, Defensive tackle (#16 out of 120 interior defensive linemen)

Rankins was a stalwart on the 2023 defensive line, and then left for Cincinnati in free agency for the 2024 season. Last season was a nightmare for Rankins, who suffered through multiple illnesses. Since returning to the Texans this season, Rankins has shown up big through four games, with a sack and 11 pressures. 

4. WILL ANDERSON, Defensive end (#11 out of 116 defensive ends)

Anderson and Hunter are the best defensive end duo in the league, and it’s not particularly close, with both ranking in the top 11 at the position. Anderson has himself near the top of the odds board for Defensive Player of the Year, with three sacks and a league-leading 25 QB pressures. Meanwhile….

3. DANIELLE HUNTER, Defensive end (#8 out of 116 defensive ends)

Hunter is right there with Anderson statistically, and slightly above him in the PFF grade category. Hunter just came off of his biggest game of the year, with two sacks against the Tennessee Titans. On the season, Hunter has four sacks and 18 QB pressures, good for 10th in the league. 

2. TIM SETTLE, Defensive tackle (#8 out of 120 interior defensive linemen)

Like Rankins, Settle is a leader in the defensive linemen room, and his impact doesn’t show up in the way of huge numbers. Instead, Settle takes up blockers, and allows the linebackers to make plays. Settle himself, though, had two big pass breakups in the Jaguars game, including one on a fourth quarter fourth down to keep the Texans’ hopes alive. 

1. ED INGRAM, Guard (#1 out of 77 guards)

Ingram is in his fourth season in the NFL, and his highest grade for a whole season on PFF was in 2023, when he had a mediocre 59.6 total grade. This season, Ingram’s pass blocking has been just so-so, but he’s been a tank in the running game, with a run blocking grade of over 90. This has been one of NIck Caserio’s best acquisitions this year. 

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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