Houston Texans

The Houston Texans bring many of the NFL’s big names to mind. DE J.J. Watt has become one of the main faces of the franchise as well as 1 of the most well known defensive players in the league. Watt is entering his 5th NFL season, all with the Texans. DT Vince Wilkfork joined Houston from the New England Patriots, where he won 2 Super Bowls with the team he had been a part of since being drafted in 2004.

The Texans have QBs Ryan Mallet, who will begin his 5th NFL season and his 2nd season with Houston, after also joining from the Patriots, and Brian Hoyer, who also began his career with New England but will join the Texans this season, most recently from Cleveland. Additionally, the team has WR DeAndre Hopkins, who is entering his 3rd NFL season.

Unfortunately for the team, RB Arian Foster recently suffered a serious groin injury, which will keep him sidelined for several weeks, at a minimum. The Texans will have to readjust their running game plans and look at alternative plays given this news. Fortunately for the team, with the season not having officially started yet, Houston has enough time to weigh their various options and identify the best alternate solutions.

Last season, Houston had the #1 NFL draft pick and chose defensive player, Jadeveon Clowney who played just 4 games when he injured his knee last December. His initial expected return was predicted for September 2015 but it has been reported that he is progressing well. Texans head coach, Bill O’Brien, noted he would like to see him back on the field as early as August 17th.

The Texans joined the Washington Redskins for joint practices as part of training camp this week. Watt shared that he felt the practices were fun and brought good competition amongst the two squads. Texans General Manager, Rick Smith, noted he was encouraged by how the team performed in the practices.

The Texans will play their first preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers next Saturday, August 15th at home.