During the month of July, the Last Word On Sports NFL department will determine which three players deserve to be considered the faces of each franchise. For this series, we will only consider active players. In this edition, the Houston Texans are the focus.
Faces of the Houston Texans
J.J. Watt
The top choice for NFL franchise faces will likely be an offensive player on the vast majority of teams. However, for the Houston Texans, the undisputed top face is J.J. Watt, who is perhaps the best defensive player in the league today.
As a player who has eschewed the pitfalls of being a high paid star, Watt has dedicated himself to being the best football player he can be during his career, while stating numerous times that there will be plenty of time to enjoy his life and money outside of football when he retires. Watt is also a leading charity figure in Texas, organizing the Justin J. Watt Foundation that benefits children with funds for after school programs.
A dominant defensive lineman like the league has not seen in years, he even moonlights as a goal-line tight end in certain formations. The combination of skills, dedication to his craft and his willingness to give back to the community makes Watt an ideal candidate to not only be the face of the Texans, but a face of the NFL.
Arian Foster
As one of the top running backs in the NFL, Arian Foster has proven to be the most important piece of the Houston Texan offense over the past five seasons. An afterthought coming out of college at the University of Tennessee, Foster burst onto the scene with a 231-yard performance against division rival Indianapolis in Week 1 of the 2010 season, and he has continued to produce since with four seasons of 1,500 or more yards from scrimmage and 62 total touchdowns over the past five seasons.
In a league that is increasingly moving towards backfield tandems and specialized receiving backs, Foster has proven to be one of the best workhorse and true three-down backs in the league. Foster will be asked to give this type of effort again as the team lost the biggest face of their franchise history in future Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Johnson. In addition, the team is again without a star at the quarterback position.
DeAndre Hopkins
As a first-round pick out of Clemson in 2013, Hopkins burst onto the scene in 2014 with a 76-catch, 1,210-yard season and six touchdowns.
Hopkins will now see how the other half lives when he begins to draw top corners and/or double coverage every week with Andre Johnson gone. Hopkins outperformed Sammy Watkins during his final year at Clemson, but again in this case there was another weapon for defenses to game plan for. To replace Johnson in 2015, the Texans have added free agents Cecil Shorts III and Nate Washington, plus rookie Jaelen Strong.
The jury is still out on whether or not Hopkins will be able to repeat or improve upon his 2014 season with a new group of receiving teammates and free agent acquisition Brian Hoyer under center. However, for the Texans to succeed and make a return to the playoffs, Hopkins will need to find a way to continue his successes as an integral part of the Houston offense.
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