Tim Settle

Eight seasons, three teams — 15 career sacks for a 308-pound interior DL.

Settle was a 5th-round pick by Washington in 2018 (Virginia Tech) and spent his first four seasons backing up Da'Ron Payne and Jonathan Allen. The Bills signed him in 2022 to clog the middle (1 sack in two years), and Houston paid him in 2024 for what turned into a career-high 11 TFL and 5 sacks across a full 16-game slate.

2024 Houston produced 11 TFLs — more than his previous six seasons combined (16).

Settle's 2024 with Houston was the cleanest version of the player Washington thought they were getting in 2018: 11 TFL and 5 sacks across 16 games, all from the 3-tech spot in a Demeco Ryans front that asks the interior to penetrate, not anchor.

The 2024 TFL count (11) was more than his entire career to that point with Washington and Buffalo. The 2025 regression (3 TFL through 10 games) is a worry, but the Texans signed him to a 2-year extension before the season anyway.

Career splits: 5 sacks in 16 games at HOU in 2024 — same number he had in 41 games for WAS.

The per-game numbers tell the story: - WAS: 0.17 sacks/gm, 0.29 TFL/gm - BUF: 0.07 sacks/gm, 0.18 TFL/gm - HOU: 0.23 sacks/gm, 0.54 TFL/gm

The Houston run rate (0.54 TFL per game) is nearly double everywhere else he's played. Settle isn't a different player — he's the same 308-pound space-eater — but Demeco Ryans' scheme creates opportunities his previous coordinators never asked for.

Career 76 tackles in 95 games — barely above the 0.8/game floor for an interior DL.

Settle has played 95 career games and produced 76 tackles — under one per game. For an interior DL, that's the profile of a true rotational nose-tackle: occupy blockers, take on doubles, let the linebackers feast.

His 27 career QB hits over those 95 games (0.28/gm) is well below the elite interior rushers (Chris Jones ~0.7/gm, Aaron Donald ~0.9/gm), but it's also more than half came in two seasons (2020 WAS, 2024 HOU). The rest of the years he's a pure run-game body.

3 career fumble recoveries — including 1 in the 2024 Texans playoff run.

Settle has 3 career fumble recoveries, all from interior-DL takedowns where the ball-carrier coughs it up at the line. The most recent came during the 2024 Texans playoff run — Houston's first division round trip in years.

The 1 career forced fumble is the smaller number; the 3 recoveries reflect being in the right gap when the ball pops out. It's the unglamorous part of nose-tackle work that doesn't appear in highlights but keeps a 308-pound 28-year-old employed.