Texans Make Roster Moves Ahead Of Steelers Playoff Game

The Houston Texans are shuffling their roster this morning ahead of Monday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Aaron Wilson reports they are waiving DE Darrell Taylor Jr. to make room for S Jaylen Reed’s activation from IR.

Reed, a rookie, appeared in seven games with one start for the Texans this season. His last game action was Nov. 30, which happened to be his first NFL start. He played 72 defensive snaps over his final two games before injury and was primarily a special teamer up to that point. In his 73 defensive snaps, he managed 14 total tackles, and a fumble recovery. The Texans won both games where he played a significant number of snaps.

The Texans are fairly thin at safety behind Calen Bullock and Jalen Pitre, so Reed will provide depth and perhaps a rotational option to keep the starters fresh. Reed was limited to start the week of practice on Thursday, but practiced fully on Friday and Saturday to prove himself ready for this game.

Taylor had only appeared in four games for the Texans and logged 35 total defensive snaps over that time. With a deep stable of defensive ends including Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Denico Autry, and Derek Barnett all healthy, Taylor isn’t a big loss for that defense.

Ian Rapoport also reported that QB Davis Mills is on his way to Pittsburgh for tonight’s game to back up C.J. Stroud. His wife just had a baby, which is why he did not travel with the team in their injury report update on Sunday.

The backup otherwise would have been Graham Mertz. Mills is one of the more experienced backups in the league with two seasons as the primary starter for the Texans in 2021 and 2022. The news of him not traveling with the team was surprising, but now we know why.