Cutting Shaq Mason and trading both Laremy Tunsil and Kenyon Green, the Texans are remodeling their offensive line. A recent second-round pick will also be part of this equation.
Ed Ingram is heading from Minnesota to Houston, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. The Vikings will collect a sixth-round pick in this trade, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero adds. One season remains on Ingram’s rookie contract. The trade is now official.
The Vikings were considered likely to either adjust Ingram’s contract or cut him altogether. Instead, they found a trade partner and collected value above the pick-swap level. Minnesota will save $3.4MM by making this trade, and Ingram will secure another chance after being benched last season.
This trade helps bring the Texans’ O-line plan into focus. Most significantly, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson reports Tytus Howard is likely to shift to left tackle. Roving between left guard and right tackle recently, the former first-round pick has some LT experience from earlier in his career.
As Howard shifts to the other side, 2024 second-round pick Blake Fisher is expected to take over at RT. Reuniting with DeMeco Ryans, Laken Tomlinson is expected to man one guard spot after signing a one-year, $4.25MM deal that can max out at $5MM. Ingram may not be guaranteed another, as Juice Scruggs and Jarrett Patterson — whichever player does not become the team’s starting center — will be in the mix for the other guard post.
Ingram, 26, has made 41 career starts. The LSU alum won the Vikings’ starting right guard job out of training camp in 2022 and held it throughout the 2023 season. Last year, however, Minnesota parked the struggling blocker before Week 11. Ingram did not play an offensive snap after that point. Pro Football Focus graded Ingram 66th among guard regulars last season. The advanced metrics site was kinder to the former No. 59 overall pick in 2023, ranking him 38th, but this trade continues to frame the Vikings’ 2022 draft as a dud.
The Vikings chose safety Lewis Cine in Round 1; they cut him last year. Minnesota took cornerback Andrew Booth several spots before Ingram in Round 2 that year; they traded him for a player (DB Nahshon Wright) they cut weeks later. While Wright remains on a reserve/futures deal, Minnesota has achieved success largely in spite of its first Kwesi Adofo-Mensah draft. Ingram has been the most successful of the Vikes’ top three picks that year, and he will attempt to rebound in Houston.
In part because Ingram did not pan out in the Twin Cities, the Vikings signed Will Fries to a five-year contract. Fries joins ex-Colts teammate Ryan Kelly as starters-to-be with the Vikes, and this duo gives Minnesota four veteran contracts along its offensive line. The team has Brian O’Neill at $18.5MM per year and gave Christian Darrisaw a $26MM-AAV extension last summer.
Howard replaced an injured Tunsil at LT during the second half of the 2021 season, impressing at the position en route to Houston picking up his fifth-year option and then extending him a year later. As Howard again moved inside last season, Fisher logged 291 snaps at RT as a rookie. The Texans appear set to move the Notre Dame product into their starting lineup on a full-time basis soon.
The Texans designated Mason as a post-June 1 cut, which will spread out the $12.48MM dead money over two offseasons. The twice-traded guard had started two years for the Texans, but a knee injury ended a lengthy ironman streak last season. Mason, 31, will be on the lookout for a fourth team.
Weird to see Houston address their problematic offensive line by dealing away their best lineman and acquiring interior linemen from two of the worst interior lines in football last year.
Tomlinson has experience playing in the offense when he played under Shanahan in SF. So it makes sense they’d target someone with experience.
Tunsil was 2nd in penalties last year, tied 3rd in 23, tied 3rd in 22. He’s not getting younger and older he gets more likely he’s going to commit more penalties not less since he already commits too many.
Good for Texans for jettison his salary this year and next and recouping a 2nd 3rd and 4th to build around stroud.
They drafted Fisher last year to be an heir at T. And can always draft oline at some point.
Ingram is another contract year players Texans have been notorious for taking chances on the last couple years where they’re banking on good years for guys looking to get paid. He reminds me of Josh Jones who can in 2 years ago played decent after flaming out of ARZ as a failed 3rd rounder and netted himself a 1 year deal with the ravens and now Seahawks continuing his career
His penalty total was inflated by one disastrous game against the Minnesota defense that messed with everybody’s pass protection scheme early in the year. He had a whopping four more penalties than Ronnie Stanley. Penalties or no, value in trade or no, he was far and away their best pass protector last year and their line is much worse without him. In a draft with few surefire tackles, that’s worrying. Fisher is a rough project with basically no experience on the left side. Tomlinson is 33 and hasn’t been good since he was in SF four years ago. Ingram has been terrible his whole career so far. I assume they think coaching was a big part of the problem, but it’s very hard to look at their line and see any personnel reasons to expect improvement at this point.
Penalties are penalties and kill drives. Youre also not counting penalties he did committ but wasn’t called for which happens plenty on plays so the “inflated during minnesota” argument is a moot point cause he could have had more. Penalties shouldnt be in the double digits. Its laziness. As good as he is hes lazy. And he won’t get better with age.
The cap savings, draft picks, and less penalties will make the texans better. Howard seems destined to take over LT and Fisher RT.
Tomlinson is actually cheaper than mason for similar production with Tomlinson performing slightly better last year. For a team with cap issues banking ona guy familiar with the scheme and costs less is a worthwhile gamble.
I can see improvement in less penalties being committed.
So now you get to count uncountable penalties?
You know what really kills drives? Sacks. Quarterbacks who don’t have time to operate or clean pockets. Trading Tunsil for draft picks and moving on from him may have been a good idea on its own terms, but the fact remains that their line is now a lot worse.
So your suggeston is hope he continues to get away with penalties on top of the excessive amount he already commits? Smart plan
A lot worse? Hardly.
Mason allowed 8 sacks, Tomlinson 6
Green allowed 5, Ingram 5
Howard allowed 4
Tunsil allowed 2
A lot worse lmao. Replacing Howard who comitted significantly less penalties (2) compared to Tunsil (13) while allowing 2 more sacks isn’t as big of a set back as you make it seem. But hey why let facts get in the way.
Tunsil only allowed one more pressure than Howard in almost three times as many snaps. Howard allowed almost twice as many as Tunsil. I don’t know why you’re stuck on the idea that not committing penalties is more important than the whole rest of a lineman’s job, but Tunsil was the Texans’ best offensive lineman last year, and he’s better than anyone they currently have or anyone they’re likely to be able to get to replace him. I don’t know what’s even arguable about this.
Cause penalties are guaranteed loss yards. You cited sacks as guaranteed loss yards, lost the arguement, and now move on to another stat (pressure) which isnt a guarantee loss of yards lmao. Whats next time to pass stat? Reaction time off the line?
A penalty is just as bad as a sack in many instances esp on say 3rd down. Learn ball. Ill be here for next attempt to change the argument.
Sacks are guaranteed downs and likelier fumbles, but I don’t need to get deeper into the weeds of this strange back and forth.
I’ll say it one last time: Tunsil was their best offensive linemen. They have added two offensive linemen who haven’t been good in a few years and have never been good, respectively. This does not strike me as an approach that will improve the offensive line. That’s my whole point.
I’m uninterested in this weird penalty debate.
Does pressure guarantee loss of yards yes or no?
I never said it did. Enough. I don’t want to play whack a mole with your logic anymore.
Whack a mole is figuring out how you went from penalties and sacks to pressure as if theyre the same thing
Football 101
Penalty on the offense, loss of yards, down remains the same
Sack, loss of yards, loss of down
Pressure…….he scared the QB I guess?
Pressures, not pressure. Pressures are a more stable and predictive stat than sacks. Feel free to go do some reading instead of talking in circles to me.
If youre allowed to talk about pretend sacks im allowed to talk about not called penalties.
Pressures is plural for Pressure as in multiple. Its ok.
i before e except after c and when sounding like a in neighbor and weigh and weekends and holidays and all through may youll be wrong no matter what you say.
I’d prefer not talking to you at all.
No on is forcing you.
Did you like my Brian Regan quote?
to use sacks when you have an extremely mobile quarterback and probably does more on the run than most qb vs darnold who is more pocket passer is tough to use. How many sacks would stroud have to avoided with ingram at tackle vs tunsil with darnold.
A fair argument would be pressure and sack combined than just sacks when comparing these two very different offenses.
You’d think stroud is “extremely mobile” but him and Darnold actually had similar rushing stats last year
Darnold had 61 attempts 212 yards, Stroud 52 for 233.
Sure stroud is more “moveable” inside and out of the pocket but that’s a two edge sword if he’s not a threat to run, which he isn’t.
Once he’s outside the pocket defenders can make contact with receivers and illegal contact is no longer a thing. And since he’s not running it just becomes the same situation he was in before.
If he runs out of bounds outside the pocket behind the line of scrimmage it’s a sack if due to a defender forcing him out.
I was expecting Bradbury to get traded but mostly because I didn’t think Ingram had any value. I’ll take a 6th round pick for a guy who never should have started.
No kidding!!! Anything for Ingram is a win!!!
Stay Tuned.
Bradbury will soon be traded or released.
Vikings fans rejoice!!!!!!!!
Over the past 100 games Tunsil has missed 19. In the missed games we gave up fewer sacks and had a similar run game. For whatever reason he seems to hurt units even if he’s statistically supposedly the best part.