The Houston Texans have made another signing to their wide receiver room and have placed a recently-signed defender on injured reserve.
According to an announcement from the Texans, the team has signed wide receiver Juwann Winfree to the 90-man roster.
In a corresponding move, the Texans have also placed linebacker Sione Takitaki on the reserve/injured list.
The Texans have now loaded up on wide receivers on their 90-man roster in recent days. If you were counting, Houston is now up to 15 wideouts on their team, just a couple of practices away from their first preseason game of the year on Thursday.
It's one of several signings the Texans have made to the room in recent days. Houston has also signed wide receivers Montrell Washington and DJ Turner since the start of training camp, that has since loaded this position group up even deeper from what it was at the end of July.
Winfree, when compared to the Texans' other recent receiver signings of Washington and Turner, has a bit more NFL experience. He was a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft and has played 23 regular-season games for three teams- most recently with the Indianapolis Colts in 2023.
And it was in that 2023 season where Winfree actually got his most work as a pro. He was active in eight games in what was primarily a special teams role, having played in 75 special teams snaps compared to 21 on the offense.
Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Juwann Winfree (9) smiles during warmups on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Winfree hasn't had a ton of reps on the offensive end since entering the league. His highest season stat line for receiving came back in 2021, where he had eight total receptions for 58 yards.
So if Winfree were to make an impact with the Texans, it would likely be in a similar situational, special teams role, which appears to be a similar mold of the other receivers Houston has signed to their 90-man roster in recent days.
The Texans' receiving room is extremely deep, which makes it pretty tough for someone like Winfree to create a dent on the roster as a real threat to make the Week 1 roster.
Especially when factoring in the players already due for a significant role in the offense -- Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel, Tank Dell, Xavier Hutchinson-- it becomes even tougher for guys like Winfree to have a serious pitch to make the 53-man cut, even if he impresses in camp.
Other camp standouts and more prominent pieces of the roster, like sixth-round rookie Lewis Bond and veterans like Justin Watson and Jared Wayne, hold a much better chance of making that leap to the 53-man roster. That puts Winfree well on the outside looking in, barring anything crazy.
What Winfree can do in the coming days, though, is find his way to a practice squad spot. Winfree can be signed on for the first of three preseason games on Thursday vs. the LA Chargers, and have a chance at making a real impact to surge up the depth chart, if he's able to find a few snaps in the action.
With how wide open the Texans' 15-man receiver room is on the back end, if someone like Winfree can shine in limited opportunities, he'll have a chance at sticking around on the practice squad. That makes these next few days in both practice and in game extremely critical to take advantage of.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/texans/onsi as Texans Make Another WR Signing After Placing Sione Takitaki on IR .
