We are three days removed from the Houston Texans’ cutting their roster down to 53 players, and since Sunday, we’ve already seen some predictable churn over the makeup of the roster, with some players being sent to the injured list (tackles Braden Smith and Sam Hagen), some old faces returning (Brevin Jordan, Dominique Robinson), and several players signed to the practice squad.
In his Tuesday press conference, Executive VP and general manager Nick Caserio called the roster “pretty fluid” and made it clear that how it looks at any given time is just a “snapshot.” Things can turn on a dime, especially with the market flooded with recently released and waived layers from other training camps.
On Tuesday, Caserio explained some of the team’s decisions in trimming the roster to 53 players, assembling the 16-man practice squad, and in deterring injury and contractual status for some of those players. Here were the four most relevant things that Caserio shared with the media on Tuesday:
Keylan Rutledge is, in his opinion, the team’s best offensive lineman
Since arriving in Houston just after the draft, Rutledge has been a joy to cover. His no-nonsense, chippy style of play (not to mention his very basic fashion tastes — he owns one suit) have been a real tone setter for this reshuffled offensive line room. If offensive line coach Cole Popovich could draw up his ideal offensive lineman, it would likely be Rutledge. On Tuesday, Caserio validated Rutledge’s work thus far, saying, “ Honestly, [Rutledge] is probably the best offensive lineman that we have. We’re glad he’s here. If he has to go play center at some point, I’m sure he can do it. We feel right now the best spot for him is left guard with [C/G] Evan [Brown] at center and [G] Ed [Ingram] at right guard.”
Tank Dell is “close, but not quite there”
The saga of Tank Dell has been a long and winding road, with serious stress on the word “long.” It was over nearly 21 months ago when Jared Wayne collided with Dell’s left knee, pulverizing multiple ligaments, seeing Dell to multiple surgeries in the subsequent months. Dell had finally gotten back to team drills about midway through camp, but has missed the last handful of practices. On Tuesday Caserio said, “[Dell] is definitely making progress. Even when we started Training Camp, we didn’t include him on kind of the reserve list. He was in a different category than some other players. I think every player, we kind of look at their situation and say, what do we need to do to get as good an evaluation as possible and make a determination about where they are. He is close. He is not quite there, which is why he’s in the category that he’s in.” At this point, it’s anybody’s guess as to when, or even IF, Dell plays football again for the Houston Texans.
It doesn’t appear that a C.J. Stroud extension is coming any time soon
It wouldn’t be a Summer 2026 press conference with Caserio if he didn’t get a C.J. Stroud contract question. On Tuesday, Caserio was succinct in addressing the topic, likely because nothing has changed. “As it pertains to C.J. [Stroud], similar to what I said in Training Camp, we’ve had productive discussions. I would say the reality is, we will either get it figured out before the season starts or if we don’t, it’s something we will address in the offseason. Whenever it happens, it happens.” Caserio went on to hint, later in the press conference, that both sides would like to focus on football once the season starts. The Texans have done deals in-season before, but Stroud is a player who the team may feel has more to prove to get whatever his asking price is. Similarly, with the roof about to blow off the QB salary market next spring, Stroud may be better served waiting and betting on himself.
The Texans’ roster isn’t just the 53-man roster, you have to include the practice squad in any discussions about game day
Caserio has been very clear since his tenure began in 2021 that he views the roster as (a) a constantly evolving entity, and (b) more than just the 53-man active roster. He views the 16-man practice squad as a usable extension of the regular roster. For whatever reason, maybe the specificity of some of the roster number questions on Tuesday, he was adamant about this in that press conference. For example, when asked about keeping only three running backs on the 53-man roster, Caserio said, ‘“We kept X on the roster, then some of our depth at those positions is off the roster. We have five running backs in the building. [RB] Jawhar [Jordan] is in the building, [RB] Noah Whittington is in the building, [both] on the practice squad. We have five running backs in the building. We don’t distinguish or delineate, ‘We have three on the roster.’ We have five running backs in the building, nine receivers counting [WR Mitchell] Tinsley. All those players are eligible to play. Whoever we feel we have to take to the game each week, we’ll take to the game. We wanted to construct the roster that way. I’ve said this a thousand times, some of our depth is on the roster, some of our depth is off the roster.”
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