This is the second-to-last Rosterology before the 53-man roster cut down. There has been a TON of roster movement over the past 72 hours which has impacted the Rosterology in an immense way. This is easily the most unsettled a Texans roster has been heading into the final preseason game in quite a while. The linebackers are a mess. Who is our RB3? What is Tank Dell\u2019s timeline? Are the Texans bad or simply not deep?<\/p>\n
Injuries: DE Dylan Horton, WR Jayden Higgins, RB Joshua Pitsenberger, WR Montrell Washington, LB K.C. Ossai, WR D.J. Turner<\/p>\n
Additions: WR Kayshon Boutte, WR Zay Jones, QB Brett Rypien, WR Sterling Shepard, RB Owen Wright, LB Caleb Johnson, CB Bryce Hall, CB George Odum<\/p>\n
Cuts: LB Marte Mapu (injury), LB Sione TakiTaki<\/p>\n
Traded Away: S Jaylen Reed<\/p>\n
Here are the past 53-man roster predictions<\/p>\n
Note: Rookies are in bold, UDFAs are italicized, and new players are in *asterisks*<\/p>\n
George Odum, SAiden Fisher, LBNoah Whittington, RBSolomon Byrd, DESterling Shepard, WRJake Andrews, OCNaquan Jones, DTCollin Wright, CB<\/p>\n
Biggest Riser: Noah Whittington, RB<\/p>\n
Whittington has been the only positive on the offense all preseason. He\u2019s a gritty runner whose health has been his biggest asset. He of course suffered an ankle injury during the game, but it\u2019s yet to be see how severe an injury. He should get the nod on the roster and threaten Jawhar Jordan\u2019s spot.<\/p>\n
Biggest Faller: Jared Wayne, WR<\/p>\n
Before, the preseason game against the Raiders, Wayne was having a coming-out party at camp. After the flurry of WR additions, there\u2019s no possible avenue for him to make the 53. He\u2019s ascended throughout camp, that\u2019s for sure, but he couldn\u2019t shine in either preseason game and wasn\u2019t enough to stymie GM Nick Caserio from bringing in multiple options at WR.<\/p>\n
Analysis: Mertz\u2019 injury was a rough watch, but somehow equally rough was watching QB Brett Rypien try to play football. There\u2019s no way he deserves a roster spot after his brutal performance. His inability to run the offense, lack of pocket awareness, and multiple fumbles directly led to the Raiders comeback win in the preseason game.<\/p>\n
Less than half of the league will keep only two QBs. The Texans should be one of those teams this year.<\/p>\n
David Montgomery, Woody Marks, Jawhar Jordan, British Brooks, Noah Whittington<\/p>\n
CUT: *Deuce Vaughn*, *Owen Wright*<\/p>\n
INJURED RESERVE: Joshua Pitsenberger<\/p>\n
Analysis: Houston have kept five RBs each of the past three seasons. I project them to do the same this year too.<\/p>\n
British Brooks\u2019 returned yesterday from a broken hand. Any further delay would have landed him on IR. He needs to get significant snaps in the last preseason game to secure his spot.<\/p>\n
Noah Whittington has earned a roster spot. Injured Jawhar Jordan hasn\u2019t proven enough to hold down the RB3 spot without question. Even so, the team likes him enough to keep him around and have not designated him for IR yet.<\/p>\n
Nico Collins, Justin Watson, Xavier Hutchinson, Lewis Bond, Jaylin Noel, Kayshon Bouttee<\/p>\n
CUT: Jared Wayne, Daniel Sobkowics, Treyvhon Saunders, Jha\u2019Quan Jackson, Juwann Winfree, *Zay Jones*, *Sterling Shepard*<\/p>\n
INJURED RESERVE: Jayden Higgins, Tank Dell, DJ Turner<\/p>\n
Analysis: Complete overhaul is an understatement. Losing Higgins for the year is a huge blow. It sparked a classic Caserio shopping spree where he acquired Zay Jones, Sterling Shepard, and Kayshon Boutte. It\u2019s a complete unknown how the team values Shepard and Jones over Justin Watson and Jared Wayne. Bond should be a lock even with the changes.<\/p>\n
Noel returns to the roster after recovering from his pinkie injury.<\/p>\n
Dalton Schultz, Marlin Klein, Foster Moreau, Cade Stover<\/p>\n
CUT: Brevin Jordan, Layne Pryor, Louis Hansen<\/p>\n
Analysis: Brevin Jordan has been sidelined for weeks due to a knee injury. His time in Houston has to be over. Stover has played well, earned a spot, and carved a roll out at fullback too.<\/p>\n
Aireontae Ersery, Braden Smith, Trent Brown, Wyatt Teller, Blake Fisher, Keylan Rutledge, Febechi Nwaiwu, Ed Ingram, Evan Brown<\/p>\n
CUT: Jake Andrews, Jarrett Patterson, Eli Cox, Jarrett Kingston, Sam Hagen, James Neal III<\/p>\n
Analysis: Welcome back, Evan Brown. He started the preseason game at center. Blake Fisher has looked next to horrible in preseason contests. He could\u2026 and honestly should be a roster casualty. He\u2019s an extremely cheap break glass option and probably would get picked up by another squad if he\u2019s released.<\/p>\n
Jarrett Patterson is an irrelevant piece of the puzzle at this junction. He\u2019s lost out to Brown and Andrews, let alone Nwaiwu and Rutledge.<\/p>\n
Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Dylan Horton, Jadeveon Clowney, Solomon Byrd<\/p>\n
CUT: Dominique Robinson, Ali Gaye, Sabastian Harsh<\/p>\n
INJURED RESERVE: Dylan Horton<\/p>\n
Analysis: Distraught isn\u2019t a poignant enough word to describe the feeling of hearing Horton\u2019s achilles injury. He\u2019s entering a contract year and was in line for a major backup role on the defense. He\u2019s replaced by Solomon Byrd, whose impressive tackles for loss were offset by his inability to set the edge against the run. It\u2019s rare to say a player is trying too hard, but that\u2019s the case with Byrd. Dominique Robinson is dealing with a calf injury, which thins this DE room out considerably.<\/p>\n
Too bad Derek Barnett signed with the Cleveland Browns one day ago – he could have been a Texan again.<\/p>\n
Houston could be in the market for a DE after roster cutdowns.<\/p>\n
Tommy Togiai, Sheldon Rankins, Kayden McDonald, Logan Hall, Mario Edwards Jr.<\/p>\n
CUT: Naquan Jones, Dominic Bailey, Kyonte Hamilton<\/p>\n
Analysis: The main update is swapping Mario Edwards Jr. for Naquan Jones. Jones has been given every opportunity to succeed, but has not raised any provocation to earn a roster spot. I personally would keep Jones and his youth over Edwards, but they must believe they can stash Jones on the practice squad again.<\/p>\n
Henry To\u2019oTo\u2019o, Azeez Al-Shaair, Wade Woodaz, Jake Hummel, Jamal Hill, Aiden Fisher<\/p>\n
INJURED RESERVE: E.J. Speed, Jake Hansen<\/p>\n
CUT: K.C. Ossai, Marte Mapu (injury), *Caleb Johnson*<\/p>\n
Analysis: The LBs went from the deepest to the thinnest room in three weeks. Mapu is out. Woodaz broke his thumb but should be cleared for Week One. Hummel looks competent but slow. Jamal Hill looks lost on defense. The rookie Aiden Fisher has outplayed almost every other backup LB on the roster. He will be a special teams contributor.<\/p>\n
The Texans need Jake Hansen back urgently. He was seen running at practice but not participating in drills.<\/p>\n
Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter, Jaylin Smith, Alijah Huzzie, Tremon Smith<\/p>\n
CUT: Collin Wright, Ja\u2019Marcus Ingram, Brandon Codrington, Stephen Hall, Bryce Hall<\/p>\n
Analysis: Veteran Tremon Smith has been running with the third-string CBs, which is not a good sign for him. Collin Wright is still recovering from a soft tissue injury and has missed the past week-plus of camp. I think they trust Huzzie a lot at corner even if he hasn\u2019t played miraculously well in preseason. Until Wright is fully healthy, he\u2019s behind Smith and Huzzie on the depth chart.<\/p>\n
Reed Blankenship, Calen Bullock, Jalen Pitre, Kamari Ramsey, *George Odum*<\/p>\n
INJURED RESERVE: M.J. Stewart<\/p>\n
Analysis: Film review illustrated Jaylen Reed was not breaking well on routes, which led to a ton of big plays by opposing offenses in preseason. Trading him to the Patriots was NOT on my bingo card, but it shows how much depth the team has at safety. Rookie Kamari Ramsey has played well, which gave them the confidence to make the move. Plus, M.J. Stewart should return some point this season. When that will be is up in the air, but a colossal shift for this position group.<\/p>\n
This could be a major mistake, but newly added special teamer George Odum is the type of player to slide onto the 53-man roster. He\u2019s a special teams ace and is a necessary addition after Jaylen Reed was traded.<\/p>\n
Kai Kroeger, Kai\u2019mi Fiarbairn, Austin Brinkman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the second-to-last Rosterology before the 53-man roster cut down. There has been a TON of roster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,23714,55312,82284,6351],"class_list":["post-416370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-texans-analysis","tag-houston-texans-offseason","tag-houston-texans-preseason","tag-houston-texans-roster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}