HOUSTON – Defensive tackle Mario Edwards Jr. is out for the season with a ruptured pectoral, further thinning the Texans’ defensive line depth.
He will be placed on injured reserve after signing a two-year, $9.5 million deal in the offseason through the 2026 season.
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“Unfortunately, Mario Edwards will be out for the season,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He ruptured his pec, so he’ll be out for the season.”
In other injury updates, Ryans said that cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. (oblique) and Woody Marks (ankle) will be managed throughout the week.
“The other guys will be fine,” he said. “We’ll see how the week goes, Stingley had the oblique and Woody with his ankle. We’ll see how they progress throughout the week.”
The Texans’ top-ranked defense previously lost defensive tackle Tim Settle Jr. to a season-ending foot injury. Defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi, a former starter, is also on injured reserve
Edwards had played in every game for the 9-5 Texans, recording 13 tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, two tackle for losses and four quarterback hits.
“Mario has done a great job for us all year,” Ryans said. “He’s a steady player, consistent, brings great energy to our entire team, so really gonna miss his presence.
“He can fly around on gameday. He runs to the football with great effort, intent, really love what he brought to our unit. So, we’re missing him. We lost Tim Settle, losing Mario. It’s gonna be difficult to replace those guys.”
Now, the Texans will look to former Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Naquan Jones to play more in their rotation behind starters Sheldon Rankins and Tommy Togiai. They have some depth on their practice squad, including Marlon Davidson, Junior Tafuna and Haggai Ndubuisi.
“We’ll see how the week goes,” Ryans said.
Edwards, 31, started a dozen games last season despite serving a four-game suspension for a violation of the NFL substance-abuse policy.
Although the suspension was a setback, Edwards’ play warranted his return to the Texans as he recorded 31 tackles for the second-highest single-season total of his career with three sacks, eight quarterback hits and three tackles for losses.
With his eighth NFL team after being drafted by the Raiders in the second round in 2015 out of Florida State, the Gautier, Mississippi native wishes he had been in this type of defense his entire career.
“I think if I could have gotten in this attack style defense earlier in my career, a lot more stats, a lot more different things going on,” Edwards said earlier this season. “But I’m glad on the back end of my career, the next four, five, six years of my career, I’ve been attack style.”
With a reputation for his ability to line up on the edge of the defense or as an interior rusher, Edwards had drawn strong reviews from the coaching staff. He started every game before his suspension.
“Mario has been disruptive all camp, and I wouldn’t have expected anything different from him,” Ryans said last season. “He showed up, playing on their side of the line of scrimmage and being disruptive. That’s what we need from all our guys up front. I’m very pleased with what Mario did.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com