Battle Red Blog
Tuesday ended with a flurry of roster moves that made Texans fans the world over confused about motives of those in the front office. You can get the full picture of roster moves the Houston Texans made in Battle Red Blog’s cut-day Tracker, but if you want a quick recap of players no longer in Battle Red:
Getting rid of established backup cornerback Myles Bryant? Dumping T Trent Brown after bringing him in to be the veteran? No more Solomon Thomas or D’Angelo Ross? Cutting Harrison Bryant mere weeks after trading for him?
These are all head scratching moves, indeed. Sifting through the names of those cut loose, you’ll find contributors from last year’s Texans team, former starters on other teams, preseason favorites, and intriguing rookies. After Tuesday’s deadline had passed, it felt like every position group on Houston’s roster had taken a gut punch from the roster trimmers. But, after sitting with these last-minute cuts and considering the highlights we saw in the preseason and in training camp, I came with five takeaways that explain the Houston’s Texans moves as they gear up for week one:
The Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list, the Commissioner Exempt list, the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list, the Reserve/Injured (Designated for Return) list, and the Reserve/Injured list make up the entirety of lists current Texans players that won’t be able to play week one were placed on. By being placed on one of the many, many kinds of reserve lists, these players will not count as a spot on the 53-man roster, at least until they are healthy and then activated by the Texans. This list includes:
RB Joe Mixon
TE Irv Smith Jr.
WR Tank Dell
WR Juwan Winfree
DT Kurt Hinish
DE Denico Autry
CB Alijah Huzzie
S Jimmie Ward
S Jaylen Reed
This is quite the mouthful of players all unto its own! Even though the season hasn’t started yet, the Houston Texans are already repeating previous mistakes by entering the season banged up, fingers crossed for the return of some crucial players before it’s too late. If the current starting lineup is able to survive until week six, they should be buoyed by the returns of Irv Smith Jr. and Joe Mixon. Hinish, Autry, Ward, and Reed will also function as useful depth at their respective positions when they return, but it remains to be seen when Ward will be past his legal troubles and subsequent suspension.
Of all position groups on the Houston Texans roster, the defensive line takes the crown for the most populated group at ten players. This is two more players than the total of eight defensive linemen on the 2024 roster, with those extra spots being taken from the defensive backs group. Now, there’s an additional defensive tackle and...
