72’ish hours until GAME DAY. Watson gets the extension we hoped for all off-season! What are your thoughts on the roster? How about 2 former Texans finding their way to Kliff’s Cardinals? No QB on the Practice Squad?? And, we’re technically at 54 instead of 53 on the roster–Update 4:00pm: Gareon Conley IR’d (ankle), roster now officially at 53.

Given the potential of players to contract the virus, the NFL further expanded the practice squad to 16 players, including eight total veterans, according to Sporting News’ Tadd Haislop.

As of about midnight, Sept. 6th, 2020, Houston has 14 players on the PS. This leaves the door open for BoB to add 2 more players. Will a PS QB be added, and will it be McGough or perhaps another QB BoB and Tim Kelly might have in mind? Who would you pencil into slots 15 and 16 for the PS?

53-man roster deadline: 3 p.m. Central Time. If you see a cut or a PS assignment, make a comment and link it or embed it. We’ll be tracking the cuts, and later on the Practice Squad roster. It’s all so very exciting, isn’t it?

53-man NFL rosters have to be set by 3 p.m. Central Time on Saturday. Take a look back at Hoss and Agent’s Roster Predictions (Offense) and Roster Predictions (Defense), and come up with your own predictions in today’s comments!

Texans haven’t made many cuts as of Thursday evening. Notable cuts include Alex McGough, which the TexansChat Voltron known as AgentHoss predicted would be a cut. However, AgentHoss predicted Albert Huggins would make the team but he was cut the same day as McGough.

The Voltron crew had PJ Hall as a possible PS/IR , so maybe PJ Hall makes it as the 7th man on the DL in the 7th place spot they had slotted for Huggins??

As it stands, the dynamic duo have a record of 1 win and 1 loss on their predictions for the 2020 Texans roster.

Texans scrimmaged Wednesday night, and have a practice Thursday before an off day on Friday. Fantasy Football Talk: Can David Johnson crack 1,000 yards rushing?

Deshaun Watson, Texans “let loose” 1 week before start of season
By Drew Dougherty, Texans TV Host

Excerpt from the article: It’s for real a week from Thursday night, and Deshaun Watson is enthused by what was accomplished in one of the Texans’ final tuneups.

He and the Texans scrimmaged Wednesday night inside NRG Stadium, and the quarterback said the evening was a success.

“It went well,” Watson said. “We’re getting the details finished up exactly of training camp and things like that. The beauty of it, everyone came out healthy. We all came out healthy and scrimmaged was well, got some good competitive plays in a setting where we have to get used to, especially for our home games, so it was nice to be able to get on the field and just kind of let loose.”

Watson and the Texans will have a practice on Thursday, and be off Friday. All NFL rosters have to get trimmed down to 53 players by 3 p.m. CT on Saturday.

Can Texans RB David Johnson crack 1,000 yards rushing?
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt from the article: For fantasy football players, what they want to know is how effective Johnson can be in an offense where he is one of many weapons, not the bell cow as he was in 2016. Will Johnson even get the chance to cross the 1,000-yard rushing mark, a feat he has not replicated since 2016?

According to TheHuddle.com, Johnson is projected to have 950 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns, which isn’t so bad. However, the former All-Pro is projected to have just 19 catches for 160 yards and a touchdown. Johnson would produce 159 fantasy points for the whole season, the 27th-most in the NFL.

What could be Johnson’s saving grace, and perhaps that of his fantasy owners, is playing behind the Texans’ offensive line, which is returning the same five starters for the first time since 2011.

Jeremy Chua of ClutchPoints.com details each of the 3 contenders and also provides his #1 contender to dethrone the Texans in the AFC South. Also: TexansUnfiltered.com’s Jair Lopez dives deep into the fascinating connection between Bruce Arians and recent Texans RBs.

The biggest threat to the Texans atop the AFC South
By Jeremy Chua, ClutchPoints.com

Can you guess which AFCS team Jeremy Chua thinks is the top threat to dethrone the Texans in 2020? Read or view the full article. Hint: It ain’t the Jaguars!

Excerpt from the article: The AFC South turned out to be one of the most competitive divisions during the 2019 season. Even though the top seed Houston Texans only notched a 10-win record, the fourth-place Jacksonville Jaguars were not too far behind and grabbed six wins of their own. The margins between the teams were rather slim and every squad can eventually overtake their division rivals after a single offseason.

Studying Bruce Arians’ Impact Over Houston Texans Personnel
By Jair Lopez, TexansUnfiltered.com

Excerpt from the article: The Houston Texans have put together an interesting core of players in the last two offseasons that have an interesting common denominator, Bruce Arians and the Arizona Cardinals.

There must be something that Houston likes from Arians and his coaching staff since Houston have several former players that have ties to Arians’ coaching staff. O’Brien has taken a total of four running backs that came from Bruce Arians’ coaching tree.

So acquiring Hyde and Johnson wasn’t a surprise after Houston had shown interest in Arians and Kitchens’ running backs in the past when they brought in Andre Ellington towards the end of the 2017 season. Ellington wasn’t put in the best position to succeed with a short amount of time to learn the offense and Deshaun Watson already lost for the remainder of his rookie season due to an ACL injury.

Three Texans players cut from the roster. TexansFilms releases a throwback video of Brian Cushing highlights during his DROY year in 2009. It’s September and that means NFL football is inching closer every day.

Texans Trim Roster By Cutting Three
By Anthony R. Wood, SI.com

Excerpt from article: As indicated by head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien on Monday, the Texans have indeed begun to ‘chip away’ at their roster as they aim to hit the magic 53-man marker by 3 p.m. CT  on the 5th of September. 

The first to be let go by the Texans were defensive tackle Albert Huggins, quarterback Alex McGough and linebacker Daren Bates. 

The biggest surprise here is, by far, special-teams ace Bates. The 29-year-old only signed for the Texans on August 22 after three successful years with the Tennessee Titans but is one of the first to be relieved of his duties. 

Brian Cushing’s DROY Highlights! | 2009 Texans Throwback
By TexansFilms

Brian Cushing exploded onto the scene in 2009, easily winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He was dominant as a rookie, recording 133 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 4 sacks. He continued to fill up the stat sheet with 10 passes defended, 4 interceptions, and 2 forced fumbles.

No news and links today! Stayed up working an all-nighter, and saw it was 4:50 a.m., so I’m posting this “nothing burger” of an “article” in order to make sure you fine folks have a comments section. Have a great day!

Rockets play Game 5 (Will Westbrook play?). Oakland A’s at MMP to face the Astros in a double-header. But first, check Dana Kunze as he attempts a 172-foot high dive. Have a great weekend everyone.

Texans hold a Thursday night scrimmage at NRG. PJ Hall, AJ Moore, and the Texans Defense reportedly had a decent outing in the scrimmage. It won’t be much longer until, Durga be willing, we get to see the Texans vs. Chiefs in a primetime slot to kick off the 2020 NFL season.

Observations from Houston Texans scrimmage at NRG Stadium
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt from article: Watson was also deliberate in his efforts to spread the ball around. The two-time Pro Bowler hit four different receivers, and went 5-for-5, according to KTRK’s Greg Bailey. It wasn’t the only perfect drive that Watson engineered, as he had another drive consisting of 4-for-4 for 69 yards and a touchdown pass to Kenny Stills.

Stills wasn’t the only receiver who had a good connection with Watson. Wilson from the Chronicle says that new addition Randall Cobb also managed to show off his cohesion with Watson.

The defense had their studs as outside linebacker Jacob Martin scooped up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Reiss noted that safety A.J. Moore was omnipresent with 1.0 sack, two pass breakups, and an interception.