For Texans veteran offensive tackle Braden Smith, his recovery from a foot injury is going to take at least the four games of the season.
The Texans are placing Smith on injured reserve-designated for return, meaning he will miss at least a month of the regular season.
Smith suffered a partially torn plantar fascia in a joint practiced with the Carolina Panthers, per league sources.
Smith had been competing for a starting job and was listed behind Trent Brown after signing a two-year, $25 million maximum value contract in free agency. Brown started against the Las Vegas Raiders and is atop the depth chart heading into the Texans' season-opener against the Buffalo Bills.
And rookie offensive lineman Sam Hagen is also being placed on injured reserve-designated for return after making the initial 53-man roster Sunday.
Smith, 29, is a former Indianapolis Colts second-round draft pick and longtime starter. Smith had offseason neck surgery, but had recovered from that medical situation and was practicing regularly with the Texans until getting hurt Wednesday morning.
Smith signed a deal with the Texans that included $13.5 million guaranteed with an $8.5 million signing bonus.
The Texans' biggest injury during the preseason was starting wide receiver Jayden Higgins suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, a season-ending injury.
"We sustained some losses here in training camp," Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. "We're gonna sustain some losses here during the season. So, in the end, the most important thing is get the right people with the right mindset, with the right mentality in the building.
"They put in the work and ultimately, we can talk about how good of a team we think we don't have or what the expectations are. In the end, it doesn't really matter. It's gonna come down to how we play. It doesn't really matter what I think. It doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks outside the building about how good of a team we may or may not have. How well we play is ultimately gonna determine how good of a year we have."
The Texans are re-signing veteran former Chicago Bears defensive end Dominique Robinson to the same one-year, $4 million maximum value contract he signed in free agency after releasing him Sunday, per a league source.
Robinson (6-foot-5, 275 pounds), a former Bears fifth-round draft pick from Miami of Ohio, has recorded 62 career tackles with 3 1/2 sacks and three pass deflections. In 12 games last season for a playoff squad, he had 1 1/2 sacks, 19 tackles and three quarterback hits and three tackles for losses. Robinson has recovered from a calf injury that sidelined him for the majority of the preseason.
The Texans also re-signed veteran tight end Brevin Jordan to the 53-man roster.
Jordan was released in a procedural roster move. He has been sidelined since the start of training camp with a knee issue. Jordan missed last season with a torn patellar tendon and a torn anterior cruciate ligament two seasons ago. Jordan is a former fifth-round draft pick from the University of Miami.
Jordan is not completely ready to go.
"Brev, I think he's back here, he's probably close to practicing," Caserio said. "I'm not sure he's gonna practice here this week. Probably looking likely more, it's gonna be next week. But he's had a good attitude, it's good to have in the building. So, we'll kind of see what kind of progress he makes."
The Texans' offensive line configuration against the Las Vegas Raiders: left tackle Aireontae Ersery, rookie left guard and first-round draft pick Keylan Rutledge, center Evan Brown, right guard Ed Ingram and massive former Pro Bowl selection Trent Brown at right tackle.
After trading versatile offensive lineman Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns during the off-season one year after trading five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders, drafting Rutledge and retaining Ingram on a three-year, $37.5 million deal and Brown on a one-year, $7 million deal, another reboot of the offensive line is underway.
The Texans experimented with Rutledge at center, a relatively unfamiliar position for the consensus All-American from Georgia Tech, before having him replace former Browns Pro Bowl selection Wyatt Teller at left guard.
"In the end, we feel like he was, right now, the best left guard," Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. "Honestly, he's probably the best offensive lineman that we have. So, I'm glad he's here. If he has to go play center at some point, I'm sure he could do it."
Rutledge has, simply put, been as advertised.
He's a gritty, tenacious blocker with a nasty streak who finishes blocks with intensity and physicality. Rutledge has gotten into several altercations at practice, including brief dust-ups with Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter and Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans has praised Rutledge repeatedly for his hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners mentality.
"He's very coachable, he wants to do it the right way, he can absorb a lot of information, and he shows up on the tape," Caserio said. "DeMeco shows highlights of practice every day. And he shows up on the tape finishing plays clean, not being dirty, but going right to the line, which is what you want to see.
"Him and Crosby kind of got into it a little bit, and then they cut it off. He wouldn't back down for Maxx, and Maxx is one of the best players in the league. Maxx is a badass, I would say. I mean, he was not afraid. So, he's got bite, he's got physicality, he's got toughness, which is why we drafted him. You saw that on his tape, and hopefully we can carry that through to the season, which I think everybody's pretty confident that he will."
For weeks, Texans wide receiver Tank Dell has been training independently and not participating in practice with his teammates.
Dell was limited in practice previously at training camp as he continues his comeback from a major knee injury suffered while catching a touchdown pass against the Kansas City Chiefs two seasons ago. He sustained a dislocated knee, a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a torn medial collateral ligaments and a torn lateral collateral ligaments and underwent two surgeries performed by Dr. Walter Lowe.
While Dell has made a remarkable recovery, he hasn't been fully cleared for contact drills. Dell starts the season on the injured reserve-designated for return list. meaning he has to miss at least four games before he can be activated.
"I would say he's close, he's not quite there, which is why he's in the category that he's in," Caserio said. "I think we'll have a better idea here on a lot of these guys after four weeks or four games, whatever it is. I'd say he's definitely closer now than he was, say, in training camp. So there's a little bit more work that remains. But, overall, he's in pretty good spirits.
"There's certain things that we just have to see. And some of this, too, is honestly for him mentally, just to make sure that he has enough confidence so he can go out there and perform the way that he's capable of and the way that he knows how to do it."
Dell has looked explosive running routes, but the Texans don't want to take any chances of a setback to the former University of Houston star after the devastating knee injury preceded by a broken ankle and a gunshot wound as an innocent bystander at a party.
"Just be better than what I left off that Chiefs game," Dell said during training camp of his goal. "When I come back, I want to come back not like this is going to be the same. I want to come back better than where I was. That was never a question in my head. It's about trusting the work you put in. Trusting the process so that when I got out here I wasn't scared. I was talking to my doctor and he was just telling me to let loose, trust it and be you because it's 100 percent stable."
Texans linebacker Jake Hansen has returned to practice from an ankle injury that kept him out for the majority of August and is expected to play against the Bills.
Texans rookie linebacker Wade Woodaz is expected back soon from a broken thumb that required surgery with a few surgical pins inserted last week. Woodaz, who had an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown, is expected to practice in a cast.
Texans three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is doing well after sustaining a minor soft-tissue hip injury during #Raiders preseason game and is expected to be ready for the Bills game per a league source. Has also dealt with mild ankle issue that's not regarded as serious.
Caserio expressed confidence in the state of the team, a three-time returning playoff squad under Ryans' leadership. The Texans lost in the AFC divisional round each of the past three seasons and are 0-7 all-time at that stage of the regular season.
They have legitimate Super Bowl ambitions.
"We've got good players," Caserio said. "In the end, it's about the players. So, we're only as good as the players and their performance on the field. DeMeco and I philosophically share a lot of the same beliefs and how to build a football team, what's important in a football player, the types of people and the types of players that we wanna have in the building.
"Before DeMeco arrived, I would say we were very purposeful with who we brought in the building. Understanding that nothing's gonna change overnight. It's gonna be multiple moves over the course of time, understanding there's gonna be some swings and misses. Not every player, that decision that you make is gonna work. But I think the ability for us to just adapt, adjust, and just try to put together a comprehensive team that has enough depth, that can essentially play in any situation, any circumstance."
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL insider for KPRC 2 and Sports Talk 790. His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AaronWilsonSport