Battle Red Blog
Football is ultimately a violent game and players are lost to injury on a regular basis. The Houston Texans lost another good one when defensive tackle Tim Settle was lost for the season with a foot injury that will require surgery. The loss of Settle leaves the Texans a little thinner on the defensive line ahead of the most challenging part of their schedule.
Settle was having the best season of his young career. He had a 71.3 rating according to Pro Football Focus that made him the second highest rated defensive tackle on the Texans roster amongst qualifying defensive tackles. Only Sheldon Rankins had a higher rating. Denico Autry and Tommy Togiai will likely be called upon to pick up the slack on the inside.
Togiai is a more gifted internal defender, so he will probably be called to play more often on first and second down with Autry being called on in obvious passing situations. The Chiefs may not present as much of a challenge in terms of the running game, but most of their remaining opponents rely more heavily on the run game than the passing game. It will be interesting to see if they next man up will keep the Texans defense humming at league leading levels.
As for Settle, he has been playing on a year to year basis since his rookie contract expired several seasons ago. 2026 will be his 9th year in the NFL. It would seem like he would be an offseason priority to come back and while he will miss the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, it would seem prudent to expect him to participate in normal offseason activities. How are you taking the news of Settle’s injury?
