Texans' Top-Heavy Offense Has No Extra Room for Damaris Johnson

When the Texans signed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick this offseason, they were committing to an identity as a run-first offense. What we didn't know at the time was that, given head coach Bill O'Brien's reticence to embrace the spread as more than a two-minute drill tactic, Fitzpatrick's mental clock would lock the Texans into a pass offense that focuses almost exclusively on Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins. 

I would argue this is not necessarily a bad thing, because Houston's top-heavy roster has a lot of players I'd deem fungible. If the goal of an offense isn't to get the ball into the hands of its best players, is it really doing its job? 

But I do not coach the Houston Texans, O'Brien does. And what O'Brien wants, according to Texans.com's Deepi Sidhu, is more involvement in the offense for preseason waiver claim Damaris Johnson. 

I don't think (Damaris) Johnson has had a season worth writing home about. It's hard to fully separate his value from Fitzpatrick's scattershot arm, but from what I've seen, I think Johnson is the store brand version of Tavon Austin. And that's not a particularly flattering comparison given how Austin has played the past two seasons. 

But the question this raises actually goes down to the fundamentals of the Houston offense. What change can be made to get (Damaris) Johnson more involved? The Texans used a third-round pick on tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz and spent $11.75 million over three years to retain Garrett Graham in free agency. These are players Houston has actually invested valuable resources in, creating the two-tight end look O'Brien has preferred, and they have combined for just 22 targets. 

And it's not like those were particularly effective targets, either.

Player	Targets	Catch Rate	DVOA	DYAR
Andre Johnson	79	61%	-10.9%	11
DeAndre Hopkins	54	68%	22.8%	149
Arian Foster	36	67%	-2.3%	23
Damaris Johnson	20	55%	4.1%	25
Garrett Graham	18	67%	-26.8%	-22

If O'Brien were willing to run three wideouts as a base set, rather than two tight ends, it could be the beginning of an interesting compromise with this offense. 

Running back Arian Foster has seen nothing but stacked boxes when Houston has gone to its base looks. Graham, despite the contract, has always been a non-entity as a blocker. Fiedorowicz was drafted with the idea of being a multidimensional tight end who could block, but he's a rookie and has made plenty of rookie blocking mistakes. 

In theory, playing (Damaris) Johnson more could un-crowd the box and get another speedy receiver on the field. Graham has been a non-factor as a receiver anyway, and if a receiving tight end can't even get enough targets to show off his calling card, how important can he be? 

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

From purely an X's and O's standpoint, there are tons of creative ways to utilize (Damaris) Johnson. Run jet sweeps, use him out of the backfield as a receiver and otherwise give linebackers something else to think about rather than stopping Foster. And if that is the extent of (Damaris) Johnson's new "involvement," then sure, it does make some sense to give defenses more to worry about. 

But it's not going to change the fundamental tenets of the Houston offense. Fitzpatrick is still not going to get past his second read on most plays. The Texans are still going to be more concerned about clock management and run effectiveness than expanding the pie of the passing offense. When they do pass, they have two of the handful of receivers in the league who can win one-on-ones with just about any cornerback. Those guys are getting the targets. 

(Damaris) Johnson and Graham are both victims of the Pareto Principle and a quarterback who has to be expertly managed to create throws to the lower end of his route tree. Using one or the other more is just changing the window dressing rather than the way this offense will operate.

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.