The Houston Texans finished up the spring portion of their offseason on Thursday afternoon with a casual walk through, and now we head into the part of the sports calendar that, for football fans, is like traversing the Sahara Desert with no hydration. I’m talking about the six weeks or so until NFL training camp begins.
Even with no pads on the players, and no hitting going on, there are still plenty of topics generated and fodder for training camp predictions and positional battles. With the rookies getting mixed in with the veterans over the last three weeks, things begin coming into focus, so why not do a 53-man roster projection?
This is my third version of the roster projection since the 2026 NFL calendar year began. Here we go:
QUARTERBACK (2): C.J. Stroud, Davis Mills
I didn’t see anything from third string quarterback Graham Mertz that leads me to believe the Texans can’t sneak him onto the practice squad after cutting him in late August, so two quarterbacks on the 53 man roster it is!
RUNNING BACK (4): David Montgomery, Woody Marks, Jawhar Jordan, British Brooks
These are four fairly easy choices, especially given Brooks’ ability to play both tailback and fullback. Montgomery and Marks are the two guys who will get the lion’s share of ther work, but the team is very high on Jordan, too. This is one position group where I could see an undrafted free agent like Noah Whiddington ending up on the squad.
WIDE RECEIVER (6): Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel, Xavier Hutchinson, Tank Dell, Lewis Bond
This 53-man roster obviously assumes Tank Dell will be practicing in training camp and not on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. On my radio show, Nick Caserio indicated that they expect Dell to practice in training camp. Bond, a sixth round pick out of Boston College, flashed nicely in mini camp.
TIGHT END (4): Dalton Schultz, Foster Moreau, Marlin Klein, Cade Stover
Schultz is the starter, Moreau is the blocking tight end they’ve been wanting for a few years now, and Klein is a second round pick who is making the team. Klein missed most of OTAs and minicamp with a leg injury, so we’ll see if that lingers. I have Stover as one of the last ones to make the 53 man roster, but Brevin Jordan, heading into his sixth season, could push for that spot.
OFFENSIVE LINE(10): Aireontae Ersery, Wyatt Teller, Keylan Rutledge, Ed Ingram, Braden Smith, Trent Brown, Febechi Nwaiwu, Jake Andrews, Evan Brown, Blake Fisher
I struggled a little with the back end of this room. It’s easy to come up with the first seven names or so. In the end, I kept Blake Fisher as a tenth offensive lineman, because the Smith and Brown have dealt with injuries the last few seasons.
DEFENSIVE LINE (8): Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, Sheldon Rankins, Tommy Togiai, Kayden McDonald, Logan Hall, Dylan Horton, Dominique Robinson
This is a group where the frontline guys are anywhere form good to amazing, and the depth on the edge is a little scary (not in a good way, for Texans fans). Naquon Jones at defensive tackle was one of my final cuts.
LINEBACKER (5): Azeez Al-Shaair, Henry To’o To’o, Wade Woodaz, Jamal Hill, Jake Hansen
The injury to E.J. Speed opens up snaps for a few of the back end guys in this room, with the rookie Woodaz flashing nicely in minicamp. Linebacker Jake Hummel was one of the final cuts. I kept Jake Hansen because it feels like he is just going to make the team until he decides to stop playing football.
CORNERBACK (5): Derek Stingley, Kamari Lassiter, Jaylin Smith, Tremon Smith, Collin Wright
SAFETY (5): Calen Bullock, Reed Blankenship, Kamari Ramsey, Jaylen Reed, M.J. Stewart
JALEN PITRE (1): Jalen Pitre
I’ll group the whole secondary together, because it’s the best secondary in the sport, and maybe the most talented position group in Texans team history. As a wild card, I have undrafted free agent Collin Wright out of Stanford making the team. Chances are, he won’t, but if he does, I’ll shout it from the rooftops about how smart I am. Also, Jalen Pitre is his own position group. Remember that.
SPECIALISTS (3): Austin Brinkman, Ka’imi Fairbairn, Jake Stonehouse
The first two are in camp with no competition. I have rookie Stonehouse winning the punter battle against second year man Kai Kroeger.
