HOUSTON (SPORTSRADIO 610) – With the 3 p.m. Saturday deadline for NFL teams to trim their roster down from 90 players to 53, let’s take a look at some names that may surprise you if they don’t make the squad.
TE Jordan Thomas – Thomas caught four touchdowns as a rookie in 2018, and at times the sixth-round pick out of Mississippi State looked like the best tight end on the Texans’ roster. Thomas, 23, was in pads during Thursday’s preseason finale against Los Angeles, and was playing late in the Dallas game the week before. While injuries hindered his camp, Thomas seems to have been passed on the depth chart by Jordan Akins and Darren Fells at minimum. If Texans Head Coach Bill O’Brien feels the need to keep training camp sensation Jerell Adams around, or if Kahale Warring can avoid a trip to the IR, then Thomas’ once secure spot on the 53-man roster could be up in the air.
OG Martinas Rankin – Rankin was a third-round pick for the Texans in 2018, and even started four games as a rookie for the Texans. Entering his second season, Rankin has been buried on the depth chart. Also, when the Texans fired former GM Brian Gaine, many were left wondering if they were a Gaine guy or an O’Brien guy. Despite the draft capital invested in Rankin, and the state of the Texans’ offensive line, Rankin may be on a new team by the start of the regular season.
QB Joe Webb III – Webb III was injured in the fourth quarter of the Thursday’s game against Los Angeles, which could give the Texans a chance to put Webb III on the PUP list or IR depending on the severity of the injury rather than cut him. It’s probably not fair to list Webb III as just a quarterback. He is a jack-of-all trades type of guy that coaches love to have on their team, it’s why Webb III is going on his 10th NFL season. He can play quarterback in a pinch, some wide receiver in a pinch and is a wizard on special teams. With the roster crunch, can the Texans afford to keep him on the 53? Webb III hasn’t been used on the special team’s first unit as much during the preseason because of the need for him to play a big majority of the quarterback reps, which could jeopardize his chances of making the team. Keep in mind that Webb III was cut when the Texans trimmed the roster down last season, but was resigned two days later.
CB Xavier Crawford – We haven’t seen a lot from the sixth-round pick in training camp, and while the corner position isn’t a position of strength, it is somewhat deep. The Texans bumped the salary of Johnathan Joseph, they signed Bradley Roby, Lonnie Johnson Jr. was a second-round draft pick, Aaron Colvin would be more expensive to cut than to keep, the team seems to like Briean Boddy-Calhoun and Johnson Bademosi’s work on special teams keeps him safe. While teams don’t give up on draft picks quickly, the man making the decisions now wasn’t the man drafting.
OT Julién Davenport – Despite playing in all 16 regular season games in 2018, and starting the third preseason game against Dallas at left tackle, Davenport doesn’t project to be a starter. The fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft was one of the key pieces to the offensive line that allowed Deshaun Watson to be sacked an NFL most. One thing working in Davenport’s favor is that he wasn’t in pads for Thursday’s game against Los Angeles, which is usually an indicator that the player will make the team.