Fantasy Football News

The Texans have this week opened the 21-day practice window for LB Christian Harris. The starting LB has been out since August with a calf injury that originated back in July.

The Texans have placed LB Christian Harris on IR to open the season because of a nagging calf strain. Harris missed a significant stretch of camp with the initial injury and then aggravated it upon his return. He has been designated to return, which means he's eligible to return as soon as Week 5 against the Bills.

Texans LB Blake Cashman (hamstring) finished the week with a full Friday practice and carries no injury designation into Sunday's game against the Titans. That says Cashman's ready to return to the lineup. LB Denzel Perryman (ankle) similarly returned to full practice Friday and doesn't appear on the final injury report. Perryman hasn't missed any time with his injury, though. Cashman missed the past two games. The last time Cashman, Perryman, and Christian Harris played a full game together, Cashman played every snap, Perryman played 65%, and Harris played 60%. It was Harris edging Perryman in playing time each of the past three weeks, though, starting with the game Cashman left early. We haven't seen word from Houston coaches about the LB plan for this week, so we can only assume Cashman will reclaim the corps lead and Harris will follow. The uncertainty plus a Titans offense that has supplied the fifth-fewest fantasy points to LBs, though, has us wary of putting any Texans LB too high in the Week 17 rankings.

Houston has ruled out LB Blake Cashman (hamstring) for the second straight game. LB Denzel Perryman (Achilles') is questionable. He managed limited practices all week, though, and Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 in Houston reports that Perryman's "trending toward being active." Cashman's absence and Perryman's question mark have moved LB Christian Harris up our Week 16 LB rankings. Harris has produced solid numbers lately, including 7 solo tackles in three of his past four games -- with two lines of 10+ total tackles in that span. Cleveland presents a positive scoring matchup this week. The Browns have yielded the third-most fantasy points per game to LBs for the season and remain top-8 in that category even over QB Joe Flacco's three weeks as starter.

The NFL has suspended Texans LB Denzel Perryman for three games over repeated violations of the player-safety rules, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Perryman incurred his seventh foul of the season Sunday for using his helmet in delivering a hit. This is particularly noteworthy timing because Perryman had also just reclaimed the playing-time lead among Houston LBs in that game, at 86%. Christian Harris followed at 64%, with Blake Cashman (55%) third. Harris would seem to be the best bet to lead playing time over the next few games. But it's worth remembering that he already got demoted to a reserve role after starting the season's first four games. We'll cautiously lean Harris, then Cashman for Week 11. But the best bet among Houston's LB corps is to not invest too heavily in anyone. Rookie Henry To'oTo'o might re-enter the mix as well, but he's dealing with an injury and recently got demoted after his own starting turn. We'll also see whether the Perryman suspension holds up through a likely appeal.

Texans rookie LB Christian Harris left today's game against the Dolphins with a shoulder injury and has been ruled out. We'll see about his official diagnosis and return timeline.