Houston Texans: Martinas Rankin placed on active roster

Houston Texans rookie Martinas Rankin from Mississippi State has been placed on the active roster after being sidelined and on the PUP list after undergoing foot surgery.

Houston Texans rookie offensive tackle Martinas Rankin passed his physical and has been promoted to the active 90-man preseason roster. He is now healthy enough to practice with the offense, but it is possible the Texans will slowly bring him back into the fold since he isn’t in the most optimal football shape.

Prior to getting injured, Rankin was pegged to see relevant snaps and was seen as an integral part of the future of the offense. Rankin was drafted in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft with the pick that the Texans received from trading veteran left tackle Duane Brown to the Seattle Seahawks.

The Texans have rebuilt their offensive line to better protect quarterback Deshaun Watson. Rankin will have the chance to start with the starting center Nick Martin being the only returning starter on the offensive line. Rankin was brought in to compete for both tackle spots, but with how well Julién Davenport has fared on the left side, it seems Rankin will compete for the starting right tackle spot.

Rankin will join Seantrel Henderson, Kendall Lamm, Jaryd Jones-Smith and Roderick Johnson competing at offensive tackle during the preseason. Rankin’s recent promotion to the active roster has addressed a huge need for the Texans’ offensive line, so improvement will eventually come to the unit.

Having Rankin back will be an interesting storyline to follow as the Texans are traveling to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to face the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday for their third preseason game. Offensive line play will be key this week with it being the third preseason game, so the spotlight will be on seeing how much the offensive line has improved this preseason.