Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Texans have had a pretty tough preseason so far health-wise, having already placed three 2013 draft picks on the injured reserve and dealing with a bevy of other injuries to star players like Ed Reed, DeAndre Hopkins, Whitney Mercilus and Wade Smith. Now a fourth Texans draft pick is headed to the injured reserve, and the Texans have to be wondering whether or not they’ve been cursed.
According to a report by ESPN’s Tania Ganguli, rookie offensive lineman David Quessenberry suffered a broken foot in practice this week and is headed to the injured reserve soon. The Texans would have placed Quessenberry on the IR yesterday, but that would have cost him part of his salary for this week. Now that he’s part of the active roster, he’ll receive his full salary for the week regardless. (Classy move by the Texans here, by the way.) Quessenberry was the third string behind Smith and Ben Jones, and Cody White will take his place.
There are conflicting reports on whether this means it’s the end of Quessenberry’s season, or if he’d just miss the first two-to-three months. If the Texans believe he’ll only miss two or three months, Quessenberry could be put on the injured reserve designation to return and come back any time between the Nov. 10 game against the Arizona Cardinals and the Dec. 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Whatever the Texans decide to do, Quessenberry will spend at least part of the season on the injured reserve, joining fellow rookies Trevardo Williams, Brennan Williams and Alan Bonner. T. Williams was designed to the IR with an ankle injury, but it doesn’t appear to be too severe, and this could just be a move that allows the Texans to develop him a little more. B. Williams has a swollen knee, and Bonner could never get over a summer hamstring injury.
The designation of Quessenberry also opens up the 53rd roster spot that the Texans were going to need for defensive end Antonio Smith, who was suspended for the final two preseason games and will be suspended for the season opener at the San Diego Chargers after swinging his helmet at Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Richie Incognito.
Cooper Welch is a Houston Texans writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @cooperwelch1991, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. You can also listen to his Locker Room podcast on iTunes.
