The Texans ruled out safety Reed Blankenship (hand/concussion) and running back David Montgomery (groin) for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.
Coach DeMeco Ryans said earlier in the week that Montgomery would miss his third consecutive game. He is week-to-week but has not practiced since his injury in Week 5.
Woody Marks has taken over as the team’s workhorse back.
Blankenship will miss his second consecutive game. He underwent hand surgery after the Week 6 victory over the Jaguars and still hasn’t cleared concussion protocol.
M.J. Stewart will again start opposite Calen Bullock.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (groin), defensive back Jalen Pitre (shoulder) and offensive tackles Braden Smith (ankle) and Blake Fisher (thumb) have no injury designation.
Texans Clips
The Bengals have issued their injury designations for Sunday’s game against the Falcons in Madrid.
Cornerback DJ Turner did not receive one of those designations. Turner was out of practice on Wednesday with a heel injury, but he’s been a full participant the last two days and is set to play this weekend.
Safety Kyle Dugger will not play due to a quad injury. He has missed three of the last four games and did not participate in practice at all this week.
Defensive end Cedric Johnson is the team’s only questionable player. He moved up to full participation on Friday after missing practice Wednesday and being listed as limited Thursday with ankle and foot injuries.
It has not been a successful season for the Texans, but kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn is coming off of a strong October.
Fairbairn went 11-of-11 on field goals last month with five of those kicks coming from at least 50 yards. He also hit a 49-yard kick on the final play of the game to lift the Texans to a win over the Jaguars in Week 6.
Fairbairn was also 10-of-10 on extra points over the course of the month, which helped make him the choice as the AFC special teams player of the month. He also took those honors in December 2018.
Fairbairn is 15-of-16 on field goals and 16-of-16 on extra points for the season.
It’s been a rough 2026 for the Chargers, who are now 0-7 after last Sunday’s loss to the Rams.
But one member of the team’s next opponent sees strong play from quarterback Justin Herbert.
Texans defensive end Will Anderson complimented the signal-caller for his play when talking to reporters on Wednesday.
“He’s still a really great quarterback in this league,” Anderson said, via transcript from the team. “You talk about a big guy that has a big arm that can run around, that can throw the ball deep, makes a lot of plays with his legs. He’s still a very respectable player in this league and we have a ton of respect for them. As far as scheme, we’re going to probably see a lot of bounce. [Chargers OC Mike] McDaniel, he’s went against this defense a lot of times, coached against his defense at San Fran.
“We know what to expect a little bit, but Herbert, he’s playing out of his mind. They have a really great solid offensive line as well and some really good running backs that can get downhill, that can hit the perimeter, it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
Whether one agrees with Anderson’s assessment is in the eye of the beholder. But Herbert has completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards with five touchdowns and a league-leading 10 interceptions in 2026.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans called David Montgomery “week-to-week” as the running back seeks to return from a groin injury. Montgomery won’t return this week, though.
Montgomery was injured in an Oct. 11 game against the Titans and has missed the past two games. He will miss Sunday’s game against the Chargers, too, Ryans said, before adding that Montgomery has made “progress.”
The Texans traded for Montgomery in the offseason, and he has 52 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns while adding seven catches for 67 yards and a touchdown.
In the past three games, Woody Marks has 49 carries for 184 yards and seven catches for 63 yards.
Several players taken in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft have gotten their second contracts. The first two players picked that year still have not.
Halfway through their fourth seasons, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud continue to play under their rookie deals.
As to Stroud, a subpar third season complicated negotiations. A decision was made to proceed with his fourth season, without a second deal.
A Tuesday article from ESPN took a close look at the respective preseason positions of player and team. The key facts: (1) the Texans offered a contract with a new-money value in excess of $50 million; and (2) Stroud did not ask to be the highest-paid quarterback in the league. (Patrick Mahomes currently leads the way at $63.093 million.)
Although the Texans have slumped to 2-5 in 2026, Stroud’s play has improved significantly. A new deal — closer to the top of the market — becomes likely after the current season. It remains theoretically possible that the two sides could work something out sooner than that.
For the player, there’s always an urgency to shift the injury risk to the team. Especially when the player will be assuming 60 minutes of injury risk, 17 times over.
As to Young, we’ve recently caught wind of chatter that the Panthers are “far down the road” toward signing him to a second deal in excess of $50 million per year.
Both are under contract through 2027, with their fifth-year options already exercised. For both, the guaranteed salary in 2027 will be $25.904 million. The franchise tag becomes an option for 2028, absent new deals.
Most teams prefer to make a final decision before then. Up or out. New contract, or find a new quarterback.
Again, both Young and Stroud are eligible for new contracts at any time. Both teams seem to want to keep them around. The only questions at this are when the deals will be one, what the new-money value will be, and (most importantly) how the payments will be structured — especially as to guarantees.
The Texans are making a change on their defensive line as they return from their bye week.
They announced that they have signed Naquan Jones to their active roster. Jones was on the 49ers’ practice squad and he’s a familiar face in Houston.
Jones played in four regular season games and two playoff games for the Texans last season. He had eight tackles in those appearances. He played in three games for the 49ers this year and has also seen action with the Chargers, Cardinals and Titans over the course of his career.
The Texans made room for Jones by waiving defensive lineman Jaden Crumedy. He had six tackles and a half-sack in six games this season,
The toe injury that landed Texans wide receiver Jaylin Noel on injured reserve is likely to end his season.
The Texans expect Noel to have surgery on his toe and miss the rest of the season, according to the Houston Chronicle.
A 2025 third-round pick, Noel was off to an excellent start in his second NFL season. He leads the NFL with an average of 14.4 yards per target, leads the Texans with 331 receiving yards, and is the Texans’ primary punt and kickoff returner. He’ll be hard to replace.
Helping to replace Noel will be that wide receiver Tank Dell finally returned last week from the knee injury that cost him more than a year, and that wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was added in a trade with the Cardinals.
But even with potential replacements available, losing Noel hurts, on a Texans team that is running out of time to turn its season around.
The Texans placed wide receiver Jaylin Noel on injured reserve Wednesday, the team announced.
Noel, 24, has turf toe that will keep him out at least four weeks.
He has 19 catches for 331 yards and two touchdowns in seven games this season. Noel played all 17 games last season as a rookie, making 26 receptions for 292 yards and two touchdowns.
In a corresponding move, the Texans claimed running back Emari Demercado off waivers from the Cowboys. Dallas cut Demercado on Tuesday.
Dallas claimed Demercado off waivers from the Chiefs on Aug. 31. The Cowboys waived Demercado for the first time on Oct. 8, but re-signed him.
Demercado ran five times for 15 yards in two appearances for Dallas.
He had 131 carries for 834 yards and three touchdowns in 40 games for the Cardinals over the past three seasons, adding 50 catches for 324 yards and a touchdown.
On Sunday, Giants running back Cam Skattebo drew a rare flag for impermissible use of the helmet. On Monday, Giants coach John Harbaugh defended Skattebo’s technique.
“I’m quite sure [Skattebo is] not trying to use his helmet as a weapon, as a battering ram,” Harbaugh told reporters, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “It’s not the way he’s thinking. He’s leading with his shoulder. That’s what he’s trying to do. . . . So, I didn’t have a problem with the technique personally at all, but we haven’t heard from the league. Maybe they’ll be able to enlighten us a little bit on it in terms of what they want us to teach, and that would be great.”
The language from the rulebook is as clear as it can be. Under Rule 12, Article 10(a), it’s a foul if a player “lowers his head and makes forcible contact with his helmet against an opponent.”
The NFL adopted that rule in 2018, as a proposal that was cobbled together, presented to ownership, and passed without any advance discussion or scrutiny from the media. Infractions are almost always fined after the fact. Skattebo’s violation was flagged.
In Week 6 alone, the NFL imposed five fines for impermissible use of the helmet. In Week 5, six such fines were levied. For the year (including the preseason), 31 fines for impermissible use of the helmet have been imposed.
It’s only an issue for coaches when it results in 15 yards of field position; the fines are paid by the players. If the league wants to truly get rid of the maneuver, flags need to fly. And then coaches will be incentivized to come up with a plan other than allowing players to use their helmets like a battering ram.
For now, Skattebo has vowed to keep doing it. If he does, the fines will increase. Eventually, he’ll be looking at a suspension. And the officials will surely be watching him more closely for further violations — and possibly throwing more flags.
