The Houston Texans are down to their 53-man roster, but the most revealing part of the cutdown wasn’t who made the team. It was how Houston handled the players who didn’t.
After last weekend’s flurry of moves, the Texans have their roster set for Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills, and they also built out a 16-man practice squad that looks far more like a reserve unit than a holding pen. Several of those players had real arguments to stick on the 53, and a few could still factor into the season in a meaningful way.
That group includes running backs Jawhar Jordan and Noah Whittington, sixth-round rookie wide receiver Lewis Bond, and cornerbacks Bryce Hall and Alijah Huzzie. All of them were in the conversation for roster spots, and all of them now sit on the practice squad instead.
Houston’s running back situation is the clearest example of the approach. The Texans kept just three backs on the 53-man roster, but they also managed to keep two more rosterable runners in the organization by putting them through waivers, having them clear, and then bringing them back on the practice squad.
General manager Nick Caserio pointed to that kind of roster management when he spoke after cuts, making it clear the Texans view the practice squad as a real part of the roster, not just an overflow area.
"That's why we're very intentional and purposeful with who those players are on the practice squad," Caserio said earlier this week. "Like, those are legit NFL players that we feel, at some point, if they had to go out there and play, we feel comfortable putting them on the field. And there are multiple examples of players that are on the roster that are going to be playing here at some point."
"So, that's how we view it. I think everybody kind of gets caught up in the 53, which, 53 is a number.
We don't look at it as 53. We look at it as, in totality, the number of players that are actually in the building that are eligible to play for us."
That philosophy leaves Houston with flexibility. Players in spots like running back and defensive back now have a clear path to get elevated during the season if injuries hit or the Texans need depth somewhere else. And if those players perform well once called up, they can turn those temporary chances into something more permanent.
Jordan already offered a blueprint for that last season, when he made the most of a practice squad elevation. That kind of move is easy for Houston to repeat, since it can go from a three-game designation to a full contract without much trouble.
For now, the Texans have their plan in place. On paper, it looks like a roster with real depth - maybe even the best overall group Houston has put together since DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud arrived in 2023.
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