Sources: Texans veteran tackle Trent Brown good to go despite ankle injury, Braxton Berrios to be active

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Texans veteran offensive tackle Trent Brown is expected to play Sunday in a playoff game against the New England Patriots despite a lingering ankle injury that limited him to one practice this week, per league sources.

Brown, 32, a 6-foot-8, 380-pound former Pro Bowl selection was listed as questionable on the injury report.

Brown also dealt with a knee injury y and missed the final two regular season games due to injuries sustained during a win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Brown returned to start and play the entire game in an AFC wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

When Brown is healthy, the Texans go with their usual starting lineup of left tackle Aireontae Ersery, left guard Tytus Howard, center Jake Andrews, right guard Ed Ingram and Brown at right tackle.

The biggest difference for the Texans’ personnel on Sunday: the absence of Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins.

Collins was officially ruled out Friday for a Sunday afternoon divisional round playoff game against the New England Patriots.

That has been the expectation ever since Collins suffered a concussion Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Collins remains in the NFL concussion protocol. Under NFL guidelines governing head injuries, he will need to have his symptoms stop to return to practice and pass a baseline neurological exam to be medically cleared to play.

“I think the biggest thing is him taking care of himself,” said wide receiver Christian Kirk, who caught a season-high eight passes for 144 yards and a touchdown against the Steelers. “We’re here for him, and I think we’ve all reached out to show our support for him. He needs to worry about getting healthy. The protocol’s the protocol. He’ll go about it the right way, and whenever he’s back, we’ll obviously all be happy he’s back.”

Wide receiver Justin Watson is also in the NFL concussion protocol and out for the game.

The Texans only did one practice squad elevation this week, upping defensive tackle Leki Fotu.

The Texans are expected to address their depth issue at wide receiver by having Braxton Berrios active for the Patriots game, per a league source.

Berrios traveled with the team to New England.

Berrios has played sparingly this season, appearing in four games with six catches for 37 yards. He caught five passes for 38 yards against the San Francisco 49ers on five targets.

Berrios, a former Patriots sixth-round draft pick who has also played for the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, signed a one-year, $2 million contract this off-season.

He earned All-Pro honors as a returner in 2021 with the New York Jets. He has 140 career receptions for 1,360 yards and six touchdowns with 3,395 return yards and one score.

Collins was carted off the field during the third quarter of a 30-6 wild-card round victory after his head struck the ground hard. As Collins attempted to catch a pass with Steelers corner Joey Porter Jr. in coverage, the crown of his helmet crashed into the ground.

The unforgiving hard surface of Acrisure Stadiumand the force of the blow knocked Collins out of the game. He was slow to get up and went to the blue medical tent for further evaluation with trainers

With a towel over his head, Collins was then taken off the field in a cart to the locker room. After the game, Collins was walking around and still obviously feeling some effects of the head injury.

This marks Collins’ second concussion of the season. Previously, he missed the next game when he was in the NFL concussion protocol. That is fairly standard in the NFL when it comes to concussions.

Collins is the Texans’ leading receiver with 71 catches for 1,117 yards during the regular season.

Without Collins, the Texans leaned heavily on veteran wide receiver Christian Kirk. And Kirk delivered his top performance with the Texans since joining the team in an offseason trade. He caught eight passes for 144 yards and one touchdown on nine targets.

“We’ve had this experience before,” quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “Played a couple of games this year without him, sadly. But all our guys are talented and we have a lot of depth in that room.

“I’m the most confident in everybody in there to get the job done. So, hopefully Nico is all right. But, I think if not, we just got to know what else we can do, just go forward and try to build with the guys we have.”

The Texans will lean on Kirk in addition to rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, backup Xavier Hutchinson and tight end Dalton Schultz.

“Obviously, Nico is a big part of what we do, and it’s a big loss with him going down, but we’re a senior group,” Kirk said. “We’re one unit, and any of us at any moment can step up and be able to fill the void and make plays when they’re needed to happen My number was called, and glad that I was able to step up in those moments.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com