Case Keenum was hobbling throughout the summer, dealing with a painful foot injury that prevented him from operating at his normal capacity as the Texans’ third quarterback.
When the former University of Houston record-setting passer aggravated the foot injury against the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason finale, the decision was made to shut him down for the entire season and place him on injured reserve
Now, Keenum, 36, is approaching a career crossroads. His two-year, $6.25 million contract expires after this season and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.
A dozen seasons into his NFL career, Keenum can contemplate whether he wants to get into coaching or continue to play. The Texans kept two quarterbacks on the active roster: Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud and backup Davis Mills. They released Tim Boyle, who signed with the Miami Dolphins practice squad.
"You probably have to ask him about the coach part, but Case has been a good player for this organization for a long time,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “His leadership, his toughness, his intelligence. It’s unfortunate that he’s not going to be able to play football this year. Hopefully, he’s around the team and around the building. He can be an asset to the team, to that room. A lot of respect and appreciation for Case, what he’s done not only over the last year or so or year and change, but over the course of his career.”
A former starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos and Washington franchise, Keenum has gone 30-36 as a starter and passed for 15,175 yards, 79 touchdowns and 51 interceptions for his career. He won a key game for the Texans last season, engineering a pivotal overtime victory over the Tennessee Titans when Stroud was sidelined with a concussion.
Keenum once threw an NCAA-record nine touchdown passes for the Coogs against Rice, finishing his collegiate career with 19,217 yards, 155 touchdowns and 46 interceptions.
“You’re talking about a guy that went undrafted that’s basically made it 12, 13 years, whatever it’s been,” Caserio said. “So, it’s a credit to him. It’s unfortunate, difficult situation. I’m sure there’s a lot of emotion involved. I don’t want to speak for him, but as far as what he does moving forward, ultimately that’s going to be his choice. I think whatever he decides to do, he’s going to be really good at it.”
The Brownwood, Texas native has been an inspiration to his teammates, providing strong mentoring. He set all-time records for passing yards, touchdowns and completions at the University of Houston.
With the Vikings, Keenum engineered the “Minneapolis Miracle,” to beat the New Orleans Saints in the playoffs as he delivered the game-winning touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs, his teammate in Minnesota and with the Buffalo Bills and Texans.
“Losing Case is a tough one,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a former Keenum teammate. “Hate that for him. It’s a tough spot to be in. Case, he provided a lot for our team, not only on the field, but off the field. Just spiritually, mentally, just the energy, positive energy that he brought to our team.
“Case is a leader and he’s made a great career in this league for 13 years. Come from undrafted here from UH, to undrafted to making a name for himself. So, proud of what Case has done and he’ll continue to lead and be successful at whatever Case decides to do.”
INJURY UPDATE
Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr. returned to practice, sort of.
While Anderson didn’t take part in drills, he was jogging and did warmups with his teammates.
The NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year has been sidelined with an ankle injury since before the Texans’ Hall of Fame game against the Chicago Bears.
Anderson is trending toward being back for the season-opener against the Indianapolis Colts, according to league sources.
Third cornerback Jeff Okudah returned to practice from a hip injury. He has been making progress to the point he nearly started practicing earlier in camp.
Defensive tackle Tim Settle Jr. returned to practice from a calf injury.
Safety M.J. Stewart is dealing with a quadriceps injury and is running on the side.
After being cut by the Texans primarily due to ongoing unavailability due to a sprained shoulder, wide receiver Noah Brown signed with the Washington Commanders.
Brown was signed to a one-year, $5 million contract this offseason.
A year ago, Brown endured a lot of painful injuries while flashing his skill as a big-play threat in his first season with the Texans. He averaged 17.2 yards per reception despite suffering a transverse process fracture in his back in two places, a torn labrum in his shoulder that required surgery and a groin injury as he finished the season on injured reserve.
Brown finished last season with 33 catches for 567 yards and two touchdowns. He got hurt in a wild-card playoff victory over the Cleveland Browns.
“Noah is a good football player,” Caserio said. “Noah is going to be on a team. There’s no question about it. He helped us win, honestly, probably two games last year by himself. Good football player. We understood going into this as we constructed the team that weren’t going to be able to keep everybody, right? So got to make some hard decisions. I would say that was a difficult decision. So, we kept the players that we felt right now that could help us the most.
“In the end we just made the decision to move on, but have a lot of respect for Noah. He is probably one of the toughest players that we had on this football team. He took advantage of the opportunities last year. Again, he won us two football games literally by himself, the Cincinnati game and Tampa Bay game. He’s going to be on a team fairly soon and probably going to help a team win. Those are the players that you wish them well. Can’t keep everybody. I have a lot of respect for Noah.”
DIFFICULT CALLS
Unlike a year ago and during the previous two seasons, the Texans’ roster decisions were much tougher.
Especially with all of the talent the Texans have at wide receiver, prompting them to keep seven players at that position: Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, John Metchie III, Robert Woods, Xavier Hutchinson and Steven Sims Jr.
“On the roster cuts and the decisions we make, it’s definitely tough,” Caserio said. “Would love to keep everyone. Loved all the guys who we were able to work with, all those guys belong in the league. They work the right way, made of the right stuff. So, pulling for all those guys, for all the difficult decisions, difficult conversations we had to have, just still pulling for all those guys to make it in the NFL.”
“We had to make some tough cuts, so it’s not easy,” Texans coach DeMeco RYans said. “I want to keep everybody. All the guys that have helped us win games last year, it’s tough to make those calls and you can’t keep everybody.”
The Texans finished 11-8 last season, winning the AFC South division title. Now, they’re a trendy Super Bowl contender.
“Overall, I feel like we’ve built a really competitive team and it doesn’t matter until you go out and prove it on Sunday,” Ryans said. “So, I like where we are. I like the leadership of our team. I like all of the young guys we’ve added and I feel like we have a good team that’s ready to go compete and nothing matters on paper, nothing really matters. It’s about what you do when the ball is kicked off.”
Both Ryans and Caserio emphasized the roster is a fluid situation and more changes could be coming before or after the Colts game.
The Texans kept eight defensive linemen and signed Solomon Byrd, Marcus Harris and Malik Fisher to the practice squad.
Texans defensive end Denico Autry is suspended for the first six games for a violation of the NFL’s performance enhancing drug policy.
Defensive tackle Kurt Hinish is on short-term injured reserve with a calf injury.
The Texans brought in former Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Gregory Junior for a visit Wednesday, per a league source. Junior is recovering from a sprained knee and is expected to be healthy enough to join a team soon. He has also visited the New York Giants and Kansas City Chiefs.
“Probably have some of our depth off of the roster at that spot,” Caserio said of the defensive line. “If there is an opportunity to add a player at that spot, then we’ll look at it. If not, then we feel good about the players we have in that role right now. Understanding at some point, there’s probably going to be somebody else here.”
WIDE RECEIVERS IMPROVE
Hutchinson and Metchie both made the initial 53-man roster.
Hutchinson was the leading receiver in the preseason.
And Metchie, a former second-round draft pick from Alabama, caught six passes with one touchdown in a breakout performance against the New York Giants.
“I think what you saw with both players was improvement,” Caserio said. “They were available. They were on the field, and they continued to get better, and they took advantage of their opportunities. So, I think Hutch was probably one of our most consistent, most dependable players from the beginning of training camp until the end. I would say Metchie took advantage of his opportunities there at different points.
“Those two players are great kids. They work really hard. They care a lot about football, and they’ve went out there and improved. We’ll see where that goes from here.”
PATIENT WITH PIERCE
The Texans retained running back Dameon Pierce as the primary backup to Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon.
Pierce rushed for just nine yards on eight carries, but there really wasn’t a lot of holes for him to run through during the preseason.
“Dameon has been available,” Caserio said. “He’s been out there. He’s been productive with his opportunities in practice. I mean, limited opportunities in the game, but we’re glad he’s on the team, so we’ll see what his role is moving forward. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what I think or what DeMeco thinks. It’s what the player does with the opportunities, and then the players are going to determine how big of a role they do or do not have on a week-to-week basis.”
REMARKABLE COMEBACK
Texans running back Cam Akers, recovered from a pair of torn Achilles tendons, rushed for 53 yards on seven carries against his former Rams team. He finished the preseason with 24 runs for 112 yards, eight catches for 61 yards and one touchdown catch.
Akers is a true medical marvel.
“Yes, it says a lot about Cam,” Caserio said. “He went out there and took advantage of his opportunities. So, obviously it says that he’s put in a lot of work to get to this point. I would say it gives you an appreciation for the level of athlete that you are dealing with.
“I mean, the normal human being, I mean, to come back from something like that, that list is pretty short. I would say Cam has done a good job. He’s been out there. He’s been available. He has took advantage of his opportunities. We’ll see what that looks like here moving forward.”
Aaron Wilson is a contributor to Sports Talk 790.