The Houston Texans are less than 100 days away from kicking off the 2025 season in Los Angeles against the Rams at SoFi Stadium and we’re counting down the days until a victory ensues on the west coast.
Texans Wire will each day tell you which player has worn the number of the day leading up to kickoff and pick the player who ensured the number best during their time at NRG Stadium. As for today, let’s take a look at who has won No. 73 since the inaugural season in 2002.
Texans players to wear No. 73
No. 73 currently belongs to offensive lineman LaDarius Henderson, who missed all of a last season due to injury. Through the early stages of training camp and OTAs, Henderson should compete for job in terms of depth, but no one expects him to start Week 1 when the Texans travel out west to take on the Los Angeles Rams.
Since Henderson hasn’t taken a snap yet wearing the No. 73, he doesn’t qualify for the G.O.A.T., but given a small list of quality names, check back in this time next year if all goes according to plan. There’s only one name that probably would check off enough boxes to fit the criteria.
OL LaDarius Henderson (Present)OL Zach Fulton (2018-2020)OL Josh Walker (2016)OT Eric Winston (2006-2011)OT Garrick Jones (2003-2004)Best Player: Eric Winston
A third-round pick out of Miami, the stability of Houston’s offensive line on the right side would have been a mess if not for Winston’s consistency and work ethic. Initially thought to be a left tackle, the Texans shifted him over to the right side for the final seven games of the 2006 season. He’d start the next 87 games at right tackle until his release in 2011.
In over 3,200 snaps, Winston allowed 46 career sacks and 112 pressures. In six seasons, he also helped Houston clinch its first-ever playoff bid while serving as the lead blocker for Arian Foster during his All-Pro campaign in 2010. While he bounced around to close out the final five years of his playing career, the Texans wouldn’t have become a rising team in the AFC without his services.