James

Houston

Houston was claimed off waivers by the Browns late in the season and non-tendered. He enters a deep Dallas EDGE depth chart and is unlikely to be more than a situational pass rusher for the team. Houston had eight sacks in 2022 and one sack in the two seasons since. Dallas waived Luiji Vilain in a corresponding move. Vilain will seek to catch on with Waluiji elsewhere.

Luketa declined to sign his restricted free agent tender this offseason, ending a three-year run with the Cardinals, who drafted him in the 2022 NFL Draft’s seventh round. Luketa and Micah Parsons played together at Penn State from 2018-2019, and the two remain close friends. The former Cardinal earned a career-best 84.2 PFF run-defense grade and tallied a career-high three sacks last season, is a capable special teamer and can contribute as a linebacker. Bringing him aboard would be a smart, under-the-radar signing. The Cowboys also worked out DE Kameron Cline and DE James Houston.

Zappe started one game for the Browns last season and has 15 total starts across three career seasons. He now hits unrestricted free agency and will be in the backup quarterback mix for teams looking to add at the position. The Browns also did not tender an offer to DB D’Anthony Bell, DT Michael Dwumfour, DE James Houston, and RB John Kelly.

Houston was claimed off waivers from the Lions in November, and the 26-year-old finished 2024 with just one sack in 11 games between Cleveland and Detroit. He’s just two seasons removed from a rookie campaign that saw him procure eight sacks, so there’ll likely be interest in the defender on a prove-it deal for 2025.

Houston will work in as a situational pass rusher for the Browns over the last six games of the season. The Browns will also have his rights for 2025 on the last year of his rookie deal. Houston has just one sack this year, but perhaps a change of scenery will help him get back to his 2022 form.

Houston had eight sacks as a rookie in 2022, but just one this year and saw his role decrease with the addition of Za’Darius Smith. He ends his Lions tenure with just 298 total defensive snaps. He should draw interest as a pass-rush specialist considering he’s only 26, but the last two years have hardly been impressive.

Nothing to see here for one of the healthier teams to enter Week 1. The big headline from this game is the return of quarterback Matthew Stafford to Detroit.

Reynolds was an exclusive rights free agent this offseason and will now return to battle for a spot on the team’s 53-man roster. The former UDFA has stuck around on the Lions for the last three seasons after previous stops in Washington and Jacksonville and has totaled 119-511-1 on the ground while adding another 22 catches for 218 yards since 2021. His contributions on special teams have been valuable in his efforts to make the team each of the last three seasons and will likely play a role in deciding whether or not he’s on the team in 2024.

Gardner-Johnson suffered a torn pectoral in a Week 2 against the Seahawks. Lions’ edge rusher James Houston was also placed on IR. Gardner-Johnson was a key addition to revamping the Lions’ secondary and they have hopes that he’ll return later in the season.

The timetable for Houston’s absence could be longer, as the second-year pass rusher is set to undergo more tests to determine whether or not he’ll need surgery. Houston was a sixth-round pick of the 2022 NFL Draft but surprised everybody as a rookie when he emerged to total eight sacks which was second on the team to rookie Aidan Hutchinson (9.5). We’ll likely know more on his status once the results of his tests come back.