Category: Preseason

CB Desmond King thanks Texans after being cut

Cornerback Desmond King thanked the Houston Texans for the past two seasons after being cut Aug. 28.

For Desmond King, the adventure won’t continue with the Houston Texans.

The former Pro Bowl cornerback was among the Texans’ cuts Monday. King took to X (formerly Twitter) to express gratitude for the city and fan base.

“THANK YOU HOUSTON,” King tweeted.

According to safety Jimmie Ward, King was one of the defensive backs who caught his eye when he signed with the Texans.

“They really impressed me when I got here,” Ward told reporters July 27. “‘Des’ King in the nickel —like, the dude is so athletic. I think he wears like a three-X glove. I knew he was good.”

King generated 127 combined tackles, 11 tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, five interceptions, 14 pass breakups, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries through 33 games for the Texans, 25 of which he started.

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Houston Texans cuts tracker: Trimming to get to 53

Here is a look at the cuts the Houston Texans have made as they build their 53-man roster.

The Houston Texans must get their roster at 53 men by 3:00 p.m. Central Time Aug. 29.

In that process comes easy cuts and also some difficult decisions.

“I appreciate guys just their work ethic and how much work those guys put in for us,” coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters Monday. “I don’t take that lightly. Our guys have done a great job of doing what we’ve asked them to do. We’ve asked them to work hard each and every day — our guys did that. They didn’t complain, they just worked. So, it’s a hard day. Over the next couple of days — it’ll be a hard few days having to let guys go because I know the work that these men have put in.”

Below are the moves the Texans have made as they build their first regular season roster under Ryans.

Bears’ top 15 defensive players in preseason, per PFF

Here are the top Bears defensive players and what their PFF grades were through three preseason games.

The Chicago Bears were defeated by the Buffalo Bills, 24-21, on Saturday in their preseason finale.

With the preseason in the books, the Bears are in the midst of trimming their roster to 53 players. But looking back at the preseason, there were some standout performers for Chicago in their three exhibition games.

Pro Football Focus handed out player grades for those who took a snap in the preseason. Here are the top 15 Bears defensive players and what their grades were.

Bears’ top 15 offensive players in preseason, per PFF

Here are the top Bears offensive players and what their PFF grades were through three preseason games.

The Chicago Bears were defeated by the Buffalo Bills, 24-21, on Saturday in their preseason finale.

With the preseason in the books, the Bears are in the midst of trimming their roster to 53 players. But looking back at the preseason, there were some standout performers for Chicago in their three exhibition games.

Pro Football Focus handed out player grades for those who took a snap in the preseason. Here are the top 15 Bears offensive players and what their grades were.

DeMeco Ryans pleased with Texans’ run defense against the Saints

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was pleased with how the run defense responded against the New Orleans Saints.

One area that was particularly concerning from the Houston Texans’ 28-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins in the second week of preseason was their anemic run defense.

The Texans gave up 205 rushing yards, which was more than their 170.2 rushing yards per game from a season ago with a different coaching staff deploying an outdated scheme. Things were supposed to change under new coach DeMeco Ryans, not stay the same.

Houston may still have work to do with their run defense to complete the turnaround, but there was an optimistic step against the New Orleans Saints Aug. 27 in the 17-13 win.

The Texans held the Saints to 91 yards on the ground. No New Orleans ball carrier crested the 35-yard mark.

While keeping teams under the century mark each week may be unrealistic, hitting the target in the last preseason contest was a fitting conclusion.

“To start the game, I thought that our run defense was really good,” Ryans told reporters from the Caesars Superdome. “I thought that the challenge on defense this week was to set edges, to swarm, and to tackle. I think that we did that defensively. We only let one get out with the quarterback, but I am proud of how our guys responded this week to the run defense.”

With 9:14 to go in the third quarter, rookie quarterback Jake Haener scrambled for 26 yards to the Houston 29-yard line, which eventually setup for a Saints field goal to pull within four.

However, the effects from missing expectations against the Dolphins a week ago fueled the drive to demonstrate improvement.

Said Ryans: “We had a bad taste in our mouth last week. That’s not the type of run defense that we expect to play, so, I am happy with how they responded this week.”

Houston kicks off the regular season Sept. 10 at the Baltimore Ravens at 12:00 p.m. Central Time.

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Texans QB C.J. Stroud says he worked with WR Nico Collins on TD pass

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud says he practiced heavily the TD pass to receiver Nico Collins in the lead-up to the preseason finale.

C.J. Stroud had his own word for his first preseason touchdown pass: Blessing.

The No. 2 overall pick had not participated in a scoring play through two preseason games, let alone lead the Houston Texans on a touchdown drive. While still in the context of an exhibition game with scant game-planning and paltry playing time, being unable to pop the cork of scoring a touchdown carries its own mood.

On a second-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Stroud found receiver Nico Collins for a touchdown to give Houston a 7-0 lead with 7:22 to go in the first quarter against the New Orleans Saints.

While the scoring play turned out to be Stroud’s last of preseason as he was on a two-drive limit, the route with Collins had been in the works for much of game week.

“It was really cool to connect with Nico,” Stroud told reporters after the 17-13 win at Caesars Superdome Aug. 27. “We work hard. Actually, we got that rep after practice on Friday like three or four times, just getting it down. So for it to pay off and for us to get a touchdown off of it was definitely cool to see.”

Stroud finished the night going 2-of-4 for 16 yards and a 100.0 passer rating. Coach DeMeco Ryans named the former Ohio State product the Texans’ starting quarterback for their Opening Day tilt with the Baltimore Ravens Sept. 10.

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Dan Campbell explains why the Lions didn’t play starters at all in the preseason

Lions head coach Dan Campbell explains why he didn’t play Detroit’s starters at all in the preseason

Unless you were at Detroit Lions training camp, you haven’t seen Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson or any of the team’s starters in action yet in 2023. Head coach Dan Campbell elected to keep all the starters, as well as some key reserves, in street clothes on the sidelines for the team’s three preseason games.

Campbell was asked about the philosophy of not playing the starters in the preseason and the merits of not risking critical injuries versus getting game reps. He cited the physical nature of the Lions’ practices and the joint practice sessions with the Giants and Jaguars as key factors in the decision.

“For me, it was always going to be about — the nature of the way we practice,” Campbell said. “We’re pretty physical, I think relative to most teams in the league. And we had two joint practices, two teams that we had joint practices with that were going to be pretty physical.

To me, that was — those were going to serve as building blocks to get our core (starters) ready. Just knowing where we were this game at (preseason finale vs. the Panthers) relative to playing K.C. (the Chiefs in Week 1), at that point you’re under two weeks, I just didn’t feel like it was worth the risk.”

Campbell did acknowledge that several veteran starters did ask to get in some preseason action.

“Oh yeah, we got some of those guys,” Campbell said with a proud smile. He broke down the ripple effects of playing one starter and how it would lead to playing all starters, something that he just wasn’t comfortable doing.

“It’s either all or nothing in that regard, particularly offensively.”

The third-year coach did say,

“I feel good about what we did.”

Revisiting the Bears’ 2022 roster cutdown waiver claims

The Bears will be all over the waiver wire this week when cuts are made, but how did last year’s moves fare?

In just a matter of hours, the Chicago Bears and the rest of the NFL teams will whittle their rosters down to 53 players as they prepare for the regular season. That will leave hundreds of NFL athletes without a team, and they’ll hit the waiver wire with an opportunity to be picked up by a new one. When they do, the Bears will be waiting as they have first dibs at the top of the waiver order.

Just like they had the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft thanks to having the worst record in the league, the Bears also have the first waiver spot and will keep it until Week 3 of the regular season concludes. Then, waivers will be determined by the current league records, with the worst team getting the first spot.

Last year, the Bears had the seventh spot, but that didn’t stop general manager Ryan Poles from putting in quite a few claims for players. In 2022, the Bears led the league with six waiver claims on the first day (seven in total). Will Poles top that number this year as he looks to strengthen the roster?

Before we dive into possible waiver claims for this year, let’s look back to see how the 2022 waiver claims fared throughout the season.

39 players who are locks for the Bears’ 53-man roster

As the final cuts deadline looms this Tuesday, here’s our prediction for the Bears players who are considered roster locks.

The Chicago Bears wrapped their preseason with a 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

But now is when the real work begins for the Bears, who have to trim their roster from 87 to 53 players by 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, which means there are going to be some tough cuts.

After looking at some of the players likely to get the axe before Tuesday’s deadline, here are the 39 players who should be locks for the Bears’ roster:

Texans club Saints 17-13: See best social media reactions

Take a look at some of the best reactions from social media following the Houston Texans’ 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints.

The Houston Texans beat the New Orleans Saints 17-13 Sunday night at Caesars Superdome to close out the preseason.

The Texans conclude the exhibition phase with a 2-1 record under new coach DeMeco Ryans. That all gets wiped clean as the Texans turn the page to the regular season.

However, the mood was festive in the Big Easy. The Texans were finally able to celebrate a C.J. Stroud touchdown. The defense came up with two interceptions late in the fourth quarter. Even if it was preseason, the optimism was palpable.

Here are some of the best social media reactions from the Texans’ third preseason game.