The Houston Texans have plenty of young, exciting talent on the roster heading into 2023. 

In addition to the team's loaded 2023 NFL Draft class, the team is expecting big contributions from second-year players like Derek Stingley Jr and John Metchie III. 

Pro Football Focus recently named one of these players as the Texans' x-factor. 

PFF picked second-year corner Derek Stingley Jr to be an x-factor for the team in 2023. 

Stingley was the No. 3 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. While the young corner did not have a bad rookie season, Stingley also did not live up to his draft pedigree. The aforementioned PFF stuck Stingley with a poor 49.1 rating in 2022. 

Stingley ended his first season with 43 tackles and one interception in nine games. Stingley missed eight games due to a lingering hamstring injury. 

Assuming health, I believe that Stingley is in the perfect position to become an elite corner in 2023. 

This offseason, the Texans did not do much to add to the corner room. The team drafted no cornerback this year, but veteran Shaquill Griffin was recently added on a low-risk, high-reward deal. Griffin, Desmond King II, and Steven Nelson are solid veteran corners but not a No. 1 option. 

With no other highly-drafted corners and no big outside additions, Stingley easily has the highest upside of any corner in Houston. Stingley has nobody to impede his development on the Texans and could take the next step with a defensive head coach in DeMeco Ryans. 

In 2022, the Texans had a surprisingly productive pass defense, finishing 10th in passing yards allowed. This was without Stingley for half of the season, too. Imagine how productive the Texans' secondary could be with Stingley playing at an elite level. That could be a reality in 2023.