The Terrion Arnold case has returned to court on Friday, for a hearing on whether he’ll be required to wear a GPS monitor while on house arrest pending trial on eight felony charges.
The core question is whether he’ll be practicing or playing football in 2026. If so, the judge likely will stick with the ruling made while Arnold was still on the Lions’ roster. If not, it’s more likely that Arnold will be required to follow the standard home-confinement protocol and wear a device.
The evidence supporting Arnold’s position has come from his agent, Nicole Lynn. Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Lynn testified that four teams have inquired about Arnold: the Colts, Jets, Seahawks, and Texans. She said that he visited and worked out for the Texans, per Birkett. (That workout has yet to appear on any of the daily NFL transaction reports.)
Lynn added that there is a “very good likelihood” Arnold will be signed in the next 45 days.
The next question will be whether any of those teams will confirm their interest in Arnold, or act on it. Often, if a player who works out for a team isn’t promptly signed, he’s not going to be signed by that team — at least not in the immediate future.
The other question looming over Arnold is whether the NFL will place him on the Commissioner Exempt list (i.e., paid leave). If a team has reason to think that’s coming, it will have less reason to sign him.
Regardless, the testimony worked. The judge, per Birkett, denied the prosecution’s motion. Arnold will not be required to wear a GPS device. He remains confined to his home with the exception of work and meetings with attorneys.
Texans Clips
The Texans have announced their open practice schedule for this summer’s training camp.
Camp will begin on July 29 and the team’s first open practice will be held on Saturday, August 1. The rest of the open sessions will take place on August 3-5, August 7-8, August 10 and August 18.
All of those practices will be held at the team’s training facility at 9 a.m. except for the August 8 practice. That workout will get underway at 6 p.m.
The August 18 practice will be a joint session with the Raiders. The Texans will also practice with the Panthers in Charlotte later in the month.
The acquisition of NFL Network includes an uptick in preseason games televised by ESPN.
ESPN has annouced that NFL Network will televise 19 live, out-of-market games during the three-week 2026 preseason.
Twelve more out-of-market games will be available live via the ESPN App’s Unlimited plan.
ESPN will televise one preseason game — Raiders at Texans on August 20. It will be the national TV debut of rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza, if he plays in the game.
All 48 preseason games will be re-aired on NFL Network, as usual.
The preseason begins on Thursday, August 13. It ends on Saturday, August 29.
As a rookie, Woody Marks led the Texans in rushing attempts (196) and rushing yards (703). He played 52 percent of the snaps in the 16 games he played.
Marks, though, had a long run of only 23 yards, 39 runs for first downs and two touchdowns.
The Texans traded for David Montgomery in the offseason, and they consider him a “three-down back.”
Thus, Marks is preparing for a pass-catching role this season.
“I think the key for Woody is understanding his role, which he does,” running backs coach and assistant head coach Danny Barrett told Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “He’s going to get lots of opportunities. Last year we brought him along slower, which was good to help him kind of learn the game, and once he learned the game, he played a lot faster. And you can see him now playing even faster. So, his role is going to pick up some third downs, special teams. He’s a kickoff return guy. But, more importantly, probably in the passing game as well. Just his level of confidence in the offense going into Year 2 is at an all-time high right now. We’ve got to keep it there.”
Marks had 24 receptions for 208 yards and three touchdowns last season, including a 50-yard catch-and-run.
“Nick Caley is doing a great job right now,” Marks told Wilson. “Got me doing all types of routes, learning the route tree. Just get outside and just using me as he can so I can be productive.”
David Montgomery went from the No. 1 back in Detroit to playing second fiddle to Jahmyr Gibbs over the last three seasons, but the Texans still think Montgomery is capable of being the lead back in an offensive attack.
The Texans traded for Montgomery early in the offseason in an attempt to bolster a rushing attack that finished 22nd in the league in yards last season. Running backs coach and assistant head coach Danny Barrett said that he sees Montgomery playing a big role in the bid to change those fortunes.
“He’s a three-down back,” Barrett said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. “He can do it all. It first starts with his mentality. He comes to work every day, same guy every day. How can I get better? The first meeting we had, we talked about how can we get better. He wants to be the best. Leave a mark on the game, but also helping the young guys develop that mindset. He’s going to finish every run. He’s going to finish every block. And it’s just that type of mentality that he’s brought to our room that’s going to carry us to the next level with the talent that we have.”
Woody Marks led the Texans in rushing as a rookie last season, but he doesn’t profile as the same kind of threat that Gibbs has become in Detroit. That leaves plenty of room for Montgomery to put his stamp on the backfield in Houston and the Texans hope it will be part of an offensive surge this fall.
Derek Stingley became the first cornerback in Texans history to earn first-team All-Pro in 2024. He repeated that honor after an outstanding 2025 season.
“I know a lot of people haven’t done it,” Stingley said last month, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “So, it’s cool to be one of those people.”
Stingley, 25, has come a long way since the Texans used the third overall pick on him in 2022. A hamstring injury limited him to nine games in his rookie season, and the Texans were questioned for not drafting Sauce Gardner, who went fourth overall to the Jets. Gardner made All-Pro in his rookie season and earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Three years later, Stingley ranks among the best cornerbacks in the league . . . and is paid like it.
Stingley, who signed a three-year, $90 million contract with the Texans in the 2025 offseason, said he improved this offseason. That has him believing that 2026 will be even better than 2025 when he totaled 36 tackles, 15 passes defensed and four interceptions.
Stingley is the league’s only cornerback with at least four interceptions each of the past three seasons.
“I feel like I’m a little bit quicker right now,” Stingley said. “I’ve just still got to work on my feet, hands, eyes. Whether that’s beginning of the route, the end of the route, I got to make sure I catch all the ones that come my way.”
The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
Former NFL linebacker Keith Mitchell has died, Texas A&M athletics announced on Thursday. Mitchell was 51.
His cause of death is unknown.
The Saints signed Mitchell as an undrafted free agent in 1997, and he played five seasons in New Orleans. In 2000, Mitchell earned Pro Bowl honors.
He played with the Texans in 2002 and was with the Jaguars in 2003 before his retirement.
Mitchell totaled 408 tackles and 19.5 sacks in 94 career games.
He was inducted into the A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015 after a four-year career that saw him earn All-Southwest Conference honors in 1995 and an All-Big 12 nod in 1996. He made 34 career sacks for the Aggies, including 14.5 during his senior season.
The Texans made a pair of moves involving players on their injured reserve list on Wednesday.
The NFL’s transaction report for July 1 shows that they waived defensive back Ajani Carter and linebacker Xavier Thomas. Both players were waived with injury designations earlier in the offseason and will be free to sign with other clubs if they go unclaimed.
Carter played 36 special teams snaps in two appearances for the Texans last season. He also spent time with the Chiefs after going undrafted out of Houston.
Thomas was a 2024 fifth-round pick by the Cardinals. He had 10 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble in 18 games for Arizona.
There wasn’t a lot to like about the Texans’ offensive line play in 2025, but right guard Ed Ingram was able to do some good work for the team.
Ingram was acquired in a trade with the Vikings and played well enough to earn a three-year extension this offseason. That sets him up to be a holdover on a line that added likely starters at left guard and right tackle — Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith in free agency before drafting center Keylan Rutledge in the first round.
Houston also signed guard Evan Brown and drafted Febechi Nwaiwu in the fourth round to add more depth to a group that Ingram believes came together nicely under position coach Cole Popovich during the offseason program.
“The offensive line, we have gelled together quite well,” Ingram said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “I feel like Pop has got a good group of guys in a room together. We are all like-minded and all have one common goal, which is just showing each and everybody that the line here, that it’s changed. We’re doing a complete 180, and we’re a different line, we’re a different unit, and that the team can rely on us to run behind us, block for C.J. and we’re going to have a great year.”
Optimism in the offense has been high all around the Texans this offseason and the team will get every chance to prove it is a better unit come September.
