Texans defensive tackle Mario Edwards Jr. will miss the remainder of the season with a ruptured pectoral muscle, head coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday.
Edwards suffered the injury in Sunday's 40-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals. It's a fairly significant blow to the Texans' interior defensive line, which lost Tim Settle Jr., who had a season-ending foot injury earlier this month.
Edwards has 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits through 14 games played this season. It's the depth and energy he brings, more than anything, that the Texans will miss.
Without Edwards and Settle, the Texans will continue to rely on Sheldon Rankins and Tommy Togiai as their top defensive tackles playing alongside edge rushers Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter.
"Mario's done a great job for us all year," Ryans said. "He's a steady player, consistent player, brings great energy to our entire team. So we're really going to miss his presence. He can fly around on gameday. He runs to the football with great effort, intent. We lost (Tim) Settle, losing Mario, it's going to be difficult to replace those guys."