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| Will Anderson Jr. |
The Houston Texans’ defense has earned the respect of many NFL coaches, analysts, and fans this season for being the best in the league throughout the regular season.
On Tuesday, edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair were voted onto the 2026 NFL Pro Bowl roster. The game will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.
Wide receiver Nico Collins, the lone representative from the offensive side of the ball, will join them.
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| Nico Collins |
Defensive backs Kamari Lassiter, Calen Bullock, and Jalen Pitre were named alternates.
Anderson is having another stellar season with 11.5 sacks, consistently disrupting any offensive scheme he faces each week, and Al-Shaair is on pace to have over 100 tackles on the season, which will be a first for him since he joined the Texans in 2024.
Stingley Jr. is having a repeat performance of his NFL First Team All-Pro 2024 season. On Sunday, he recorded his fourth interception of the year, making him the only player since 2023 to have 15 interceptions and the only NFL player to average at least four interceptions over the last three seasons.
The Texans' offense hasn’t been all that great in 2025, but the bright spot has been Collins, who became the third player in franchise history (Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins) to record three 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
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| Azeez Al-Shaair |
The Texans started the season with a 0-3 record but have gone 10-2 over the last 12 games and are on a seven-game winning streak, the longest in the NFL, thanks to one of the league’s stingiest defenses.
Houston has held opponents to 16.6 points, 274.3 yards, and 16.1 first downs, which ranks first in the league. They have kept opposing offenses out of the end zone, holding teams to fewer than two touchdowns (1.9) per game.
After their 23–21 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, head coach Pete Carroll had nothing but praise for Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke and head coach DeMeco Ryans game plan against them.
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| Derek Stingley Jr. |
“This is the best defense in the NFL,” Carroll said on Sunday. “They’ve been doing it week in and week out. They’ve been on a roll.”
Carroll knows a thing or two about defenses, having led the Seattle Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” during his tenure as head coach, including two Super Bowl appearances.
In his three years with the Texans, Ryans has set the standard of how he wants his team to play, and the defensive side of the ball has taken it up a level this season based on that blueprint.
“It’s all about our standard, our level of play, and what I expect from our guys every single snap,” said Ryans about the defense. “It really doesn’t matter to me who we play against, what they’ve done in the past, or who they are. To me, it’s the standard that we play with. You’ve got to operate as the best. If you don’t operate that way, then it’s not going to go.”