HOUSTON – Cade Stover endured a difficult season with his health last year.
He broke his foot in the Texans’ season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, returning to play in the final nine regular seasons games.
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He twisted his knee awkwardly in a playoff loss to the New England Patriots while trying to catch an off-target throw from quarterback C.J. Stroud, but avoided any serious injury.
A magnetic resonance imaging exam confirmed the anterior cruciate ligament was intact and Stover suffered a mild partially torn medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament and he didn’t have to undergo knee surgery this offseason, per league sources.
Stover has made a full recovery from an offseason hernia surgery, per sources, and has been a full participant in the Texans’ conditioning program and Phase 2 workouts.
Stover is cross-training as a blocking fullback in offensive coordinator Nick Caley’s system, per sources, while continuing to play tight end.
Stover, 25, a former fourth-round draft pick and Big Ten Conference Tight End of the Year from Ohio State, caught 12 passes for 76 yards last season. This shapes up as a pivotal third NFL season for Stover. If he can improve his durability, he could carve out a versatile role as Caley is expected to heavily utilize tight ends.
He has 27 career catches for 209 yards and one touchdown in two seasons. He rushed for three yards and two first downs on four runs out of a Wildcat formation last season in short-yardage situations.
Fully healthy again, Stover is part of a highly competitive tight end room led by veteran Dalton Schultz, who caught a team-high and career-high 82 passes, second-round pick Marlin Klein, former New Orleans Saints starter Foster Moreau and Brevin Jordan, who’s making a sound recovery from a torn patellar tendon that sidelined him for the entire season one year after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.
The battle for playing time, especially for the second and third tight end positions on the depth chart, and the fourth tight end roster spot is already afoot, as general manager Nick Caserio outlined before drafting Klein out of Michigan with the 59th overall pick.
“With our group, we’ve got a lot of guys in some different categories,” Caserio said prior to the draft. “Brevin had a couple of years, unfortunately, where he’s had injuries set him back. He’s a player that we’d like to have in the building. Honestly, it’s probably to be determined with him a little bit. But he’s a great kid, great attitude. He’s been here working his tail off. He’s got a great spirit. Everybody’s rooting for Brevin. There’s a little bit of an unknown there, of what we actually have.
“Cade has played decent football at different points. He’s going into year three. There’s certainly some areas that he can improve. Foster has played pretty good football at different points in his career. Dalton has probably been our most consistent, probably the most steady player that we’ve had at that position over the last two to three years. He had a career year. But there’s some question marks (at tight end), if we’re just being real. But we think there’s some players there that potentially can help us. What other opportunities that leads to in the draft, we’ll kind of see what that looks like.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com