Houston Texans coach David Culley doesn’t think quarterback Deshaun Watson will make his preseason debut Aug. 14 against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Culley told reporters before Tuesday’s training camp practice at Houston Methodist Training Center that Watson may not see any playing time against Green Bay.
“He’s unlikely to play in the game for sure,” Culley said. “So, we’ll make a decision later on in the week as to what’s going to happen with that.”
According to Culley, the decision to not play Watson would be based on his limited reps throughout training camp. The three-time Pro Bowler has been fourth in line in individual drills behind Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driskel, and Davis Mills, and has yet to participate in any team portion of training camp.
Last week, Watson missed all of practice as he worked through a calf and ankle injury.
“We’re day to day with him, and he had been out for a while, and he was back today, and we were taking it day to day as we have been since the start of training camp,” said Culley.
Culley also said that they would make a decision on Thursday who all would travel and not travel to Green Bay.
Said Culley: “We haven’t made that decision on who all is going to travel and who all is not going to travel. We’re probably going to make that decision around Thursday and go from there with it.”
Culley said that injuries would play a factor in whether or not the Texans wanted to give reps to players.
“There are some guys we’ll sit down and decide if we want to play them or not,” Culley said. “Now, that doesn’t mean they won’t travel to the game, but they may not play in the game.”
Watson has been in a standoff with the organization since his trade request from late January, which has not been rescinded.
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