The Texans plan to sign defensive end Antonio Smith on Wednesday after placing J.J. Watt on injured reserve, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It will be a one-year deal, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (Twitter link). Smith played for Houston 2009-13.
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Smith, 35 next month, is an 12-year NFL veteran with more 170 appearances and 130 starts under his belt. In 2015, he played in all 16 games for the Super Bowl champion Broncos, posting 2.5 sacks in the process. During the course of his career, Smith has spent time with the Cardinals, Texans, Raiders, and most recently, Denver. He’ll factor into a Houston defensive end crew that contains Jadeveon Clowney, Joel Heath, Devon Still, Christian Covington, and Brandon Dunn.
Watt, meanwhile, will visit a specialist to learn if his back injury will require surgery or if it can heal on its own, tweets Mark Berman of FOX 26. Either way, Watt will be forced to miss a minimum of eight weeks before he can return from IR.
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