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In Week 15, the Texans lost 41-7 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was a terrible game, nobody cares, whatever man, that’s lame. The one thing that came out of it, aside from DeAndre Hopkins taking four different bites out of Jalen Ramsey, was second-year center Nick Martin suffering a pretty severe injury.
O’Brien says Nick Martin’s injury looked serious: I feel terrible for him. #TexansGameday
— Deepi Sidhu (@DeepSlant) December 17, 2017
After he was taken out and placed on injured reserve, no other news regarding the injury was released. Things went dark and quiet. What injury Martin suffered, and the severity of it, wasn’t brought to light. Then earlier this week, something was finally announced. Martin had ankle surgery.
#Texans center Nick Martin had ankle surgery according to sources. Expected to be ready to go for next season
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) December 26, 2017
He’s supposed to be back for the beginning of the season. Good news. But it was never clarified which ankle he had surgery on, or whether it was the same type of surgery that cost Martin his entire rookie year. Martin is supposed to be back, but that doesn’t suffocate all concern.
Martin is the only starter on the offensive line who will definitely be back on the Texans in 2018. The Texans can save money if they cut the terrible Jeff Allen and the patella-less Derek Newton. Xavier Su’a-Filo, Chris Clark, Breno Giacomini and Greg Mancz are free agents (though Mancz is restricted).
There isn’t much here to hang onto. The Texans could resign Mancz. They could move Newton to right guard if he can play football again. Nothing is definite. It’s all speculation. The Martin injury adds more muck to the already soured yellow watercolor.
Hopefully Martin can start immediately next season like the beat reporters say because one, he’s really good, and two, he’s all the Texans have left on the offensive line.