The Texans have added another low-key bet on upside, bringing in Chris Braswell as a practice squad defensive end and giving him a fresh start in Houston.
Braswell arrives with plenty of pedigree and plenty left to prove. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, then spent his Alabama years waiting behind a loaded front before finally stepping into a bigger role.
When he took over for Will Anderson Jr. as the Jack linebacker in Alabama’s 3-4 front, he flashed real production, finishing with eight sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Both marks ranked second on the team behind Dallas Turner, who went 17th overall to the Vikings in 2024.
That was enough to make Braswell an intriguing draft case, but not a finished one. He entered the 2024 draft as a redshirt junior after just one season of true production at Alabama, and evaluators saw the appeal and the rough edges in equal measure. The NFL Stock Exchange podcast had him graded as the fourth and sixth defensive end in the class, while also calling him “how raw of a player” he was and noting that he was built exceptionally well but lacked a “pass rush plan” and could only rush with power.
That same tension showed up in his pro career. In my own 2024 draft notes, I described his pass rush as “simple” rather than nuanced.
He could hold the edge and do the dirty work, but he wasn’t the kind of defender who consistently tilted games. Tampa Bay still took him in the second round, betting on the tools.
It never really clicked. Braswell, listed at 6’3”, 250 pounds, never earned a start in two seasons with the Buccaneers, and the lack of production quickly worked against him.
The Bucs weren’t exactly lighting up opposing quarterbacks either - Yaya Diaby led the team with seven sacks - but Braswell’s impact still wasn’t enough. His struggles helped push Tampa Bay toward Ruben Bain in the first round of this year’s draft.
This offseason turned into a make-or-break stretch, and it didn’t go his way. Braswell missed games two and three of the preseason, and he was generally outplayed by David Walker and Anthony Nelson. Tampa Bay ultimately released him, a clear sign the team had no plans to stash him on the practice squad.
Now Houston gets the swing at the upside. Braswell reunites with Will Anderson Jr and Logan Hall, both of whom also spent time in Tampa Bay, and he’ll work as the Texans’ lone defensive end on the practice squad. With injuries piling up at the position, there’s a real chance he gets elevated sooner rather than later.
The fit makes sense on paper. Braswell played outside linebacker at both Alabama and Tampa Bay, but Houston’s 4-3 setup will ask him to do more of the dirty work on the edge and continue developing as a pass rusher. It’s a chance to sharpen the parts of his game that never fully came together in Tampa and maybe turn some of that early promise into something real.
For now, he sits behind Dominique Robinson, UDFA Sebastian Harsh, and Jadeveon Clowney on the depth chart. But for a Texans team looking for depth and a player still chasing his ceiling, this is exactly the kind of move that can quietly matter.
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