The 2026 NFL season will feature the eighth ever edition of The Governor’s Cup, which is the meeting between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans. With the last two all-Texas pro football meetings coming in Arlington in 2022 and 2024, it is time for the Cowboys to visit the Texans in Houston for the first time since 2018.
With our preview series shifting towards some of the perceived toughest games on the Cowboys schedule, the Texans will be the first non-divisional opponent the Cowboys play in the continental United States this season. Prior to this week four battle, the Cowboys will play at the Giants, versus the Commanders, and in Brazil against the Ravens, before week four at the Texans in one of five scheduled early kickoff window games.
The Texans are 18-8 at home under head coach DeMeco Ryans since 2023, going 7-2 last year while holding six of their nine home opponents to 20 points or less. It was this defense that led the Texans to a third straight appearance in the Divisional playoffs, but yet again this is where they exited after the offense was shut down by the eventual AFC champion Patriots.
The Texans have further committed to bolstering the defense this offseason, one that is expected to be among the league’s best yet again, but absolutely could not come away from the offseason without some type of splash on offense too. They did so by trading for Lions running back David Montgomery, pairing him with Woody Marks out of the backfield and Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, and Tank Dell at wide receiver.
The Cowboys own offense has sky high expectations coming into this season, and one of the things they should be out to answer early is how they play against premier defensive minds. Starting the season against John Harbaugh, Dan Quinn, Jesse Minter, and then this Texans defense will give some early answers here.
Interestingly enough, the three coaches listed above along with Ryans for Houston are not just defensive coordinators for their teams, they are head coaches with a rare focus on defense in today’s game. How Brian Schottenheimer as the Cowboys’ offensive-minded head coach deals will with this early season pressure and attacks the Texans defense is a question still with some waiting to be done before answering, but until then we can take a closer look at the totality of what the Texans have done this offseason.
Texans Key Free Agent Signings/Departures
*SIGNED IN FREE AGENCY
- DT Sheldon Rankins (Re-signed)
- OL Trent Brown (Re-signed)
- SAF M.J. Stewart (Re-signed)
*DEPARTED IN FREE AGENCY
The Texans will bring back their top four pass catchers from a year ago in Schultz, Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, and Xavier Hutchinson, making offensive line the next priority to have a sustainable offense around C.J. Stroud that can go deeper in the playoffs.
Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith project as new starters at guard and tackle, but come with quality experience and the type of mean streak this Houston team values almost across the board at all positions to give them a physical and tough identity. The Texans are interestingly built to embrace the heavy formation trend expected to take the NFL by storm this season, with Schultz and FA addition Foster Moreau at tight end, a retooled offensive line, and receivers like Collins and Higgins that can win out of the slot or from condensed formations.
Losing Kirk and Berrios in free agency does thin the depth chart at wide receiver for players that fit this mold for Houston, but the net positives this organization achieved on offense while bringing in strong reinforcements on defense should have them very excited about their positioning in the AFC South. The most notable defensive addition here is Reed Blankenship coming over from the Eagles, giving the Texans a tough safety group of Blankenship, Jalen Pitre, and Calen Bullock.
The Texans did move on from former Cowboys linebacker Damone Clark in free agency, who was most recently with the Lions in 2025. They recently added last year’s sack leader for the Cowboys though, a reunion with veteran Jadeveon Clowney, bringing his career back to Houston after being their first overall pick in 2014. The Cowboys returning experience along the offensive line should know plenty about how to deal with Clowney, but if he still has as much juice left in the tank as he showed in Dallas on an otherwise terrible defense, the matchup will not be easy.
The Texans also lost Tim Settle in free agency, but now the Cowboys will potentially still play against him twice this season too, as he signed with the Washington Commanders.
Texans 2026 Draft Class
- Round 1, Pick 26: G Keylan Rutledge
- Round 2, Pick 4 (36 Overall): DT Kayden McDonald
- Round 2, Pick 27 (59 Overall): TE Marlin Klein
- Round 4, Pick 6 (106 Overall): G Febechi Nwaiwu
- Round 4, Pick 23 (123 Overall): LB Wade Woodaz
- Round 5, Pick 1 (141 Overall): SAF Kamari Ramsey
- Round 6, Pick 23 (204 Overall): WR Lewis Bond
- Round 7, Pick 27 (243 Overall): LB Aiden Fisher
The Texans commitment to being a force in the trenches was just getting started in free agency. Starting their draft with one of the best run blockers, Keylan Rutledge out of Georgia Tech, in the first round, and Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald as a people-mover at defensive tackle, further embraced the identity they’re looking for.
The rest of this draft class also shows off smart drafting by the Texans, as they went for prospects that will slide onto depth charts where established talent is already in place and expectations can be tempered. We’ve already talked about both Schultz and Moreau at tight end, which leaves room for rookie Marlin Klein as the team’s second of two second-round picks to develop. The same goes for Nwaiwu at guard, Woodaz at linebacker, and Ramsey at safety.
The Texans fanbase, obviously one of the newer ones in the NFL at large, has fully embraced the last three seasons under Ryans where the team’s identity has been on hard-nosed defense. In year two of coach Schotty’s focus on trench play, physicality, and culture, Dallas will go toe-to-toe with a Texans team valuing many of the same things.
Texans 2026 Coaching Changes
*New to staff this season:
The Texans will have the same defensive, offensive, and special teams coordinator under Ryans in 2026, with ST coordinator Frank Ross being the longest-tenured of the bunch as a staff member since 2021. Even two of the positions we’ve highlighted as pivotal for Houston this year, safety and running back, have returning coaches with experience in Danny Barrett as assistant HC and RB coach and Stephen Adegoke who’s been coaching safeties since 2023. So far for our preview series, the Texans have far and away the most coaching continuity, with only tight ends coach James Ferentz making the list of new hires.
The Texans let the division slip away for the first time since 2023 last year despite winning two more games than their previous South-winning seasons under Ryans, by way of the upstart Jaguars with first year HC Liam Coen going 13-4. They will put their defense to the test at the start of the season against Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, the Colts in week three, then Dak Prescott and the Cowboys followed by their remaining division opponents the Titans and Jags back to back in weeks five and six. It will be revealing early for the Texans, and frames the Cowboys game as one with heightened importance even beyond the state bragging rights.
Previous 2026 Opponent Previews:
