Texans Clips
The Texans are trading for Saints punter Kai Kroeger, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports. The teams will swap late-round picks, with the Saints receiving Houston’s sixth-rounder in 2028 and the Texans receiving New Orleans’ seventh-rounder that same year.
Kroeger, 23, signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina last year.
He finished his rookie season averaging 44.8 yards on 56 punts, with a 37.3-yard net. Kroeger landed 18 punts inside the 20, while getting two punts blocked.
The Texans are replacing veteran Tommy Townsend, who had an up-and-down season. He averaged 47.6 yards per punt with a net of 41.6.
Houston also extended the contract of kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn on Tuesday.
The i’s are dotted; the t’s are crossed; and apparently, all of the Texans’ contract extensions have been approved by the NFL.
The team made the signings of defensive end Danielle Hunter, offensive guard Ed Ingram, tight end Dalton Schultz, offensive tackle Trent Brown, safety M.J. Stewart and linebacker E.J. Speed official by announcing the extensions.
All the extensions were previously reported.
A report on Tuesday morning indicated the contracts given to Hunter and Schultz were disapproved by the league official. The Texans, according to the report, considered the issue minor and a matter of semantics.
Hunter got one year and $40 million added to his deal, while Schultz will see another year and $12.6 million on his.
The Texans re-signed kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn on Tuesday, but that was not among the signings announced by the team.
The Texans are moving to bolster their special teams units in free agency.
Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com reports that they have agreed to terms on a two-year deal with former Rams and Ravens linebacker Jake Hummel. No other details of the pact have been reported.
Hummel spent his first three NFL seasons with the Rams and moved to the Ravens in 2025. He played 82 percent of the team’s special teams snaps and played at least two-thirds of those snaps in each of his years in Los Angeles, but has only played 150 career snaps on defense.
Hummel has 49 career tackles and one tackle for loss in 58 overall appearances.
The Texans are adding a veteran offensive tackle.
Houston has agreed to a two-year deal with Braden Smith, according to multiple reports.
The initial numbers indicate Smith’s deal is worth $20 million.
Smith, 29, will stay in the AFC South after playing the first eight years of his career for the Colts.
Smith has dealt with multiple injury issues over the last few years. He has not played a full slate of games since 2019, when he started all 16. He played 16 games in 2022 as well. But in the last three seasons, he’s started 10, 12, and 13 games for Indianapolis.
The Texans recently agreed to trade Tytus Howard to the Browns. Smith could be a replacement for Howard at right tackle.
The Texans already had kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn under contract for 2026 and they’ve made a move to make sure he’ll be around beyond next season as well.
NFL Media reports that Fairbairn has agreed to a two-year extension in Houston. The deal is worth $13 million.
The $6.5 million average annual value would make Fairbairn the highest-paid kicker in the league.
Fairbairn is heading into his 10th season with the Texans and he ranks third in most game played for the franchise. He led the league with 44 made field goals and 48 attempts during the 2025 season. The 44 made field goals tie David Akers for the most in a single season by any player.
Fairbairn is 255-of-291 on those kicks over his entire career and he’s also made 93.4 percent of his extra point attempts.
The Lions have replaced running back David Montgomery, who will officially be traded on Wednesday to the Texans.
Via Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the Lions have agreed to terms with former Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco.
Pacheco, a seventh-round pick in 2022, has appeared in 51 regular-season games with 42 starts. Once the Chiefs agreed to terms with running back Kenneth Walker III, Pacheco’s return to the Chiefs became highly unlikely.
He had a career-high 935 rushing yards in 2023. Last year, he gained only 462 rushing yards in 13 games, with 12 starts. Still, he runs with an intensity that will help move the sticks between the tackles.
In Detroit, Pacheco will become the clear No. 2 to emerging star Jahmyr Gibbs, and insurance in the event Gibbs is injured.
Terms have not yet been reported. Whatever the deal is worth, Gibbs is likely to get a contract before the season begins that will put him at the top of the market.
Gibbs shouldn’t set foot on the practice field until he gets a new deal.
The Texans agreed to one-year contracts with pass rusher Danielle Hunter and tight end Dalton Schultz before the start of free agency, but contracts aren’t official in the NFL until the league office has approved them. And the league office did not approve them.
The NFL disapproved both contracts after they were submitted to the league office on Monday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
There’s no word on what the specific issue was with the contracts, but the Texans apparently think the issue is minor: They consider it a matter of semantics and expect to get new contracts approved soon, according to the report.
Hunter reportedly got one year and $40 million, while Schultz reportedly got one year and $12.6 million added to his deal.
The Falcons have agreed to terms with linebacker Christian Harris, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media reports.
The Texans made Harris a third-round pick in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons in Houston.
Harris appeared in 15 games last season but started only one game and played only 92 defensive snaps. He saw action on 173 special teams snaps.
Harris, 25, played most of the defensive snaps in his first two seasons. He missed most of the 2024 season with a lingering calf injury.
In his career, Harris has 206 tackles, four sacks, one interception, 13 passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
The Texans’ No. 1 defense is adding a big name to it.
Safety Reed Blankenship is signing with the Texans on a three-year, $24.75 million deal, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Blankenship ranks 94th on PFT’s list of top-100 free agents.
Blankenship, 27, spent the past four seasons with the Eagles. He won a Super Bowl ring for the 2024 season, when he made 27 tackles, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble in four postseason games.
In his career, Blankenship has played 56 games with 50 starts, totaling 308 tackles, nine interceptions, one forced fumble and 23 pass breakups.
Mr. Settle is going back to Washington.
Per Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, defensive tackle Tim Settle has agreed to a three-year deal with the Commanders.
Garafolo notes the contract is worth up to $25.5 million.
Selected by Washington in the fifth round of the 2018 draft, Settle played his first four seasons with the club before spending two years with the Bills and the last two seasons with Houston.
In 2025, Settle started 12 games, recording 15 total tackles with three tackles for loss, one sack, and three passes defensed.
Settle has appeared in 124 career games with 29 starts, tallying 30 tackles for loss, 27 QB hits, and 15.0 sacks.
