Houston Texans: When will Kahale Warring play offense in 2020?

The Houston Texans drafted Kahale Warring in 2019 but injuries have been a setback.

Here is the issue for the Houston Texans and tight end Kahale Warring in his two years with the franchise … injuries. The Texans haven’t had the chance to see Warring on the field in either 2019 or 2020 during in-game action on the offensive side of the football due to extended time on IR.

Injuries have hampered the progression of the former 2019 third round pick, and if he’s ever able to be on the field at all on offense, he does have the chance to make a name for himself as Jordan Akins has seen injuries in ’20, and Darren Fells is a veteran, though he’s done a nice job but isn’t set in stone for many years to come as the starter at tight end either.

Warring has yet to play on offense in either of his two seasons, and this season he’s played nine snaps on special teams against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Warring has the makings of a solid player at tight end as he’s 6’5” and 252 ponds, and he’s only 23 years old, so after being activated from the IR on Monday and joining the 21-day practice window the time has come for Warring to prove himself as a valuable player on the active roster.

It will be very exciting to see if Warring can eventually get on the field for the 1-6 Texans team at some point this season, possibly as soon as they Sunday when the Texans travel to Florida to face the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In 2019 the reason Warring missed the season was due to a concussion, plus the team in 2019 had more than enough players at tight end, so the Texans made sure Warring was completely healed.

Warring was placed on the IR this season following Week 1 it was for an undisclosed injury. Then head coach Bill O’Brien said in an article by Texans Insider Deepi Sidhu of houstontexans.com the following when Warring was placed on the IR after Week 1:

"“We felt like that would help him where he is injury-wise. So, that was the decision we made yesterday. It really kind of happened on Monday and so that’s why it was made yesterday so that’s where it’s at.”"

Since then, O’Brien has been fired, and once Warring is back on the game day roster he must get some snaps as the tight end during a game. Why not against the Jaguars this Sunday as they are the only team the Texans have defeated this season. In Week 5 the Texans defeated the Jaguars on Oct. 20 by a 30-14 score. In that game the production from tight ends on the stat sheet included two receptions from Fells for 57 yards and one touchdown.

The Texans have defeated the Jaguars in their past five meetings, and lead all-time at 24-13-0.

Houston Texans: Tight end production this season includes four touchdowns

This season the tight ends for the Houston Texans have been Darren Fells, Jordan Akins and Pharaoh Brown with that trio combining for four touchdowns, as Fells has three and Akins has one.

Fells has played in all seven games this season, and is the fourth learning receiving yardage leader on the team with 14 receptions for 205 yards and three touchdowns. His best catch went for 44 yards and he’s been targeted 19 times.

Akins has missed three games this season, but has still played in four games where he’s collected 14 receptions off 15 targets, where he’s totaled 168 yards with one touchdown. Akins averages 12 yards per reception in 2020, while Fells is averaging 14 yards per reception. Brown in ’20 has played in five games for the Texans where he’s made three receptions on three targets for 32 yards.

If Warring is finally healthy it is time to see if he can gradually work his way into some sort of role on the offense of the Houston Texans moving forward. The rest of this season should be about evaluating  players who have yet to make a name for themselves or who have yet put together consistent play.

For Warring at least the Texans saw something in him last year to make him a third round pick, and this year he’s behind the rest of the team in playing time and things of that nature, so there is a lot of work to be done.

With Week 9 being against an opponent that isn’t the greatest, Warring needs some playing time — if healthy enough — to see where he stands at this point of the season, and if nothing else, he needs to get used to playing some on the offensive side of the ball in preparation for the 2021 season.