Are the Houston Texans the biggest riser from 2024? To most, it would be a without a doubt definitive yes.

Does that mean Houston enters the impending year as a top-five roster? Not according to NFL.com.

Eric Edholm recently posted his power rankings entering the first entire week of preseason games, placing the Texans at the No. 6 spot. It’s a step in the right direction after three underwhelming campaigns dating back to 2020, but perhaps that’s why Edholm is cautious about placing the reigning AFC South champions higher than right outside the “front-runner contenders.”

“There has been some good news early in camp, with the emergence of rookie CB Kamari Lassiter (No. 42 overall), but also some bad news, with Denico Autry being suspended for the season’s first six games,”  Edholm writes. “If there’s a silver lining, it’s that those six contests look like the easiest patch of a pretty challenging schedule. Yes, there are some key “swing” games during that initial stretch, including against the Bears (Week 2) and Bills (Week 5), which will help measure how close the Texans are to being contenders, but even those teams are likely to be going through some growing pains early on. I’ve said I think elevating the Texans to Super Bowl status this season might be a bit too rich for me, but this ranking also reflects just how far they’ve come in a year’s time.”

The usual suspects remained ahead of the Texans. Kansas City took the top spot after securing its third Super Bowl title in six seasons. The San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles rounded out the top five.

The Texans will continue their quest to rank inside the top five heading into their second preseason matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.