{"id":76041,"date":"2025-05-24T18:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T18:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/76041\/"},"modified":"2025-05-24T18:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T18:31:10","slug":"texans-to-keep-aireontae-ersery-at-ot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/76041\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans To Keep Aireontae Ersery At OT"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texans are planning to keep second-round pick Aireontae Ersery<\/a> at offensive tackle to begin his NFL career, though he may not earn a starting job right away.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cReally liked his tape in college at tackle,\u201d said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans of his rookie offensive lineman (via KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson<\/a>). \u201cHe played left tackle, so we\u2019ll start him out at tackle and see how he does there. My vision for him was always he can help us at tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texans believe that Ersery could be their next franchise left tackle after trading Laremy Tunsil<\/a> to the Commanders this offseason. Cam Robinson<\/a> is earning $12MM and will likely start this year, but his one-year deal indicates that the team doesn\u2019t see him as a long-term option. Same goes for Trent Brown<\/a>, who only has $550k of guaranteed money and will likely have to earn a roster spot as a swing tackle, not a starter.<\/p>\n

Enter Ersery, who started 38 straight games at left tackle to end his career at Minnesota.\u00a0His height and weight meet NFL standards for offensive tackles, but his 33.5-inch arms are shorter than the rest of his 6-foot-6, 331-pound frame suggest. Ersery\u2019s performance at the Combine, including a 5.01-second 40-yard dash, showed that he has the athleticism to keep playing tackle in Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Tae, we add a guy who brings that physicality, that mindset, that I really think helps offensive linemen be good at their job,\u201d continued Ryans. \u201cHe\u2019s done a great job at playing left tackle and still has room to grow and develop. I\u2019m excited about adding him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ideally, Ersery would spend his rookie season improving his technique and adjusting to NFL competition before taking over on the blind side in 2026. He could then pair with 2024 second-rounder Blake Fisher<\/a> \u2013\u00a0who took over for Tytus Howard<\/a> at right tackle last season after Houston\u2019s Week 14 bye \u2013 in 2026 and beyond.\u00a0Finding bookend tackles in the second round in consecutive years would be an excellent way to revamp C.J. Stroud<\/a>\u2018s protection unit at an affordable price tag as he nears extension eligibility.<\/p>\n

Could Ersery play guard? His offensive line coach at Minnesota, Brian Callahan (no relation to the Titans\u2019 head coach) thinks so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he could,\u201d said Callahan (via Wilson) . \u201cI think he\u2019s a tackle, but I do think that he has the ability to play elsewhere. I feel like he could definitely play guard, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston shored up their guard depth by trading for Ed Ingram<\/a> and signed Laken Tomlinson<\/a> this offseason. Howard started the last five games of the season at left guard, too, so Ersery would only flip inside in an emergency. He might be too tall to develop at guard in the long-term, though the Ravens converted Daniel Faalele<\/a>, another behemoth former Minnesota OT, to right guard last summer.<\/p>\n

The Texans will hope that their current guard depth is enough to get through the whole season without deploying Ersery on the interior, allowing him to focus on developing at left tackle with an eye on the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texans are planning to keep second-round pick Aireontae Ersery at offensive tackle to begin his NFL career,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[286,7,221,253,2368,6,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-76041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-aireontae-ersery","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114564241289220429","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}