Houston

Texans

Blankenship has been dealing with a concussion since Week 6 and still has it listed as an injury designation nearly three weeks later. He is also listed with a hand injury. Blankenship will need to progress through concussion protocol to have a chance at playing in Week 9; he is on the wrong side of questionable for now.

Per head coach DeMeco Ryans, Montgomery remains week-to-week. He did not practice today and we assume he won’t get on the field in any capacity this week. Woody Marks will make another start. Facing a down-horrific Chargers squad, Marks should finally get going after two underwhelming starts in Montgomery’s absence. He is a locked-in RB2 for Week 9.

Montgomery could still need more time to recover from his Week 5 groin injury. Woody Marks should be expected to start against the Chargers this weekend, at this time. Montgomery technically still has a chance to resume practicing this week, but today likely would have served as the first ramp-up session if he had a good chance of playing.

Montgomery, who missed the Texans’ last two games with his injury, is coming off the team’s Week 8 bye, and there was some hope he might be able to get on the field for Week 9’s game against the Chargers. While that may still be the case, it’s possible we will need to wait until Wednesday, when the team releases its first injury report, to see how Montgomery is trending heading into the weekend. The 29-year-old running back has struggled mightily this season even when healthy, rushing for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 52 carries while averaging a dismal 2.7 YPC. Even if he is active against the Chargers, Montgomery would be hard to trust as anything more than an RB3/Flex play given his performance pre-injury.

It’s a rough blow for Noel, who had been extremely efficient on his targets. It does clear up space for some of Houston’s other receivers. The recently-activated Tank Dell and recently-acquired Marvin Harrison Jr. will benefit a bit from one fewer mouth to feed after the Texans come off bye.

Demercado will need to contribute on special teams to be active on game day, and he might also need David Montgomery (groin) to remain sidelined after the Week 8 bye. Demercado does not need to be added in 12-team leagues.

Since the Texans are on bye in Week 8, Noel will not be eligible to return until Week 13 against the Steelers. It’s a tough break for Noel, whose involvement had begun trending upward. Hopefully, his injured reserve placement allows him to hit the ground running when he returns. Noel does not need to be held on benches.

Noel suffered his injury in Sunday’s loss to the Giants and was spotted in a boot after the game. He ran just 15 routes in the game and was held to two catches for -3 yards. Noel is at risk of missing time, but even if he is active, there’s little reason to hold onto him given the suddenly crowded Texans receiver room.

Speaking on Monday with the media, Caserio said that “nobody is discouraged” with how negotiations with Stroud and his agent have gone thus far, saying that the two sides just “couldn’t quite come to an agreement” yet. Stroud is in the fourth year of his rookie contract and had his fifth-year option picked up by the team earlier this offseason. He will be under contract through the 2027 regardless of how negotiations go, but we would expect him to sign a long-term extension at some point next offseason to avoid this becoming an issue come training camp. Despite the Texans’ 2-5 start to the season, Stroud has been mostly solid, throwing for 1,867 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception while completing 64.8 percent of his passes.

Noel was spotted in a boot after the game and Ryans confirmed the injury at a post-game scrum. Noel is droppable at this point between the injury and the sudden integration of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tank Dell.