Done with roster downsizing: Houston Texans gear up for season opener next week – NFL News
The Houston Texans are gearing up for the season opener next week after making some extensive but final downsizing of their roster to bring down the number of players at 53, as warranted by the professional league regulator National Football League (NFL).
As many as 20 players are let go or placed on the injured reserve list in one go by the team to meet the league’s roster trimming deadline of past Friday, which makes them probably the only team to have made extensive changes into the last few hours of the
deadline.
Quarterback Case Keenum and left tackle Rashad Butler are prominent names amongst the players who became subjects of waivers. A majority of these players are into first year of their pro careers or those who were solely taken on board for assistance to other
players at training camp.
Some of these players have performed reasonably well at training camp and were given opportunities in the preseason phases, triggering false hopes of them being retained into the regular season.
The management has defended the decision of letting them go. Although the team is yet to confirm officially, many of these players might have an opportunity for signing to the team’s practice squad, as it has been done by almost all other teams.
The list of the released players includes nose tackle Hebron Fangupo, tight end Logan Brock, defensive end David Hunter, defensive end Keith Browner, wide receiver, Juaquin Iglesias, quarterback Case Keenum, outside linebacker D.J. Bryant, inside linebacker
Shawn Loiseau, wide receiver Jeff Maehl, defensive end Mitch King and others.
The Texans having done with roster changes appear ready to face off new season’s challenges, which is a rather fresh beginning for them after reaching the playoffs and winning the American Football Conference (AFC) South division last season for the first
time.
Although they have only a season’s experience of playing beyond the regular season phase, the team appears well capable of making it to the postseason once again this season. Overall the balance of squad at all positions is better than last year, and there
is no reason why the Texans should not progress beyond the last season's level.
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