Houston Texans Cut Duke Ejiofor

The 2018 6th round pick of your Houston Texans has left the building. On Wednesday, the Texans announced they cut Duke Ejiofor with a failed physical designation.

While hope sprang eternal that Ejiofor would turn into a solid defender for Houston, the reality was far less rosy. The Wake Forest product hadn’t seen the field since 2018, when he played in 12 games, contributed 9 combined tackles, 6 solo stops, 2 QB hits, and 1 sack.

On May 10, 2019, Ejiofor landed on Injured Reserve when he tore his Achilles. After a successful recovery, Ejiofor then tore his ACL in August of 2020, once again landing on IR. Apparently the second recovery didn’t go so well, as Ejiofor was deemed unfit for competition by the Texans’ medical staff yesterday.

Duke is a descendant of Nigerian royalty, so chances are he’ll be fine. Who knows? Maybe he can heal up and join Texans West (i.e., the Arizona Cardinals). The Texans will absorb a meager $46,313.00 dead money hit, per Over The Cap, for 2021 after releasing the embattled linebacker.

With Ejiofor gone, Miles Smith and the Texans now have to forge ahead with Zach Cunningham, Tae Davis, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Nate Hall, Neville Hewitt, Christian Kirksey, Hardy Nickerson II, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Joe Thomas and Garret Wallow in the linebacker room. If you’re wondering about Whitney Mercilus, Shaw Lawson, and Jacob Martin, they’re all listed as defensive linemen for now.

Hopefully Ejiofor heals up and makes good on all the potential he has. He’s definitely the sort of player you want to root for whenever he takes the field. Roster cut-downs aren’t coming for awhile, so we can expect a signing soon to fill the void left by Ejiofor.

For those wondering, the Texans have to cut down to 85 players by August 17th, 80 by August 24th, and then the final 53 by August 31st.

We wish you all the best, Duke. That spin move was real at Wake Forest. It’s a shame it wasn’t seen in action in Houston. Hopefully it will return somewhere else.