A former high draft pick struggles to find his footing. Will Houston trade or cut the promising but inconsistent offensive lineman?
The Houston Texans' recent success can be largely attributed to how the team approached the 2023 NFL Draft. The franchise owned the second overall pick in the event and selected quarterback C.J. Stroud. Has been a good quarterback through three seasons despite recent regression and a disastrous end to the 2025 season. Houston then stayed aggressive and traded multiple first-round selections and other Day 2 picks to move up from the 12th pick to the third pick to grab Will Anderson Jr.
Both Stroud and Anderson have been pivotal to the Texans' recent success, and that duo is a big reason the franchise has won a playoff game in each of the last three seasons. Other players that have played a big role for the Texans from the 2023 NFL Draft include wide receiver Tank Dell, linebacker Henry To'o'To'o, and center Jarrett Patterson, who has also filled in nicely at times. However, the third pick of that draft behind Stroud and Anderson was Juice Scruggs, and has not found his footing in the league quite yet.
Scruggs was selected by Houston in the second round of the draft with the 62nd overall pick. He has dealt with injuries and has not been able to carve out a role for himself in Houston. In a recent article on ESPN, he was mentioned as a potential cut or trade candidate for the Texans, "Scruggs was a second-round pick in the 2023 draft but missed the first 10 games of his rookie season with a hamstring injury. He has been in and out of the lineup ever since -- and has yet to reach his potential. Scruggs started most of the 2024 campaign but ranked 32nd out of 33 qualifying players for pass block win rate as a center (89.8%). His 64.3% run block win rate also was poor."
The interior offensive lineman suffered a hamstring injury early in his rookie season, and he started a handful of games in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, he took a step back, as he was mostly a special teams player and started only one game, "Last season, Scruggs had only one start and mostly appeared on special teams; he was a healthy scratch in one of Houston's two playoff games. Perhaps in the final year of his rookie contract, another team could figure out the skills that made him a high draft pick to begin with."
The best approach to parting ways with Scruggs would be to explore trade options. Houston could potentially bring in some sort of Day 3 pick swap in exchange for Scruggs' services, which would be a win for the franchise at this point.