Texans Veteran Defender Opens Up About Health Scare and Return to Houston

Despite some slight questions about the interior defensive line for the Houston Texans, they didn’t go to great lengths to address it over the offseason. They drafted Kyonte Thompson in the seventh round and brought back Sheldon Rankins, 31, in free agency.

Rankins was with the Texans in 2023. He started 15 games, picked up 37 tackles, 9 for a loss, with 6 sacks and returned a fumble for the only touchdown of his career. It was a bit of a resurgent year after two middling seasons with the New York Jets, which was preceded by a Saints tenure that really peaked in 2018.

But Rankins wasn’t brought back, and he went to Cincinnati for the 2024 campaign, and it didn’t go well. He played in just seven games and made just 18 tackles with a single sack.

After Setback in Cincinnati, Rankins Had One Goal

Once his time with Cincy was done and over, Rankins had a simple request for his agent: “Get me to Houston.”

“When everything kind of went the way it went with Cincinnati, my agent called me,” Rankins said, via Cole Thompson on X. “Obviously, going what I was going through health-wise, the question had to be posed: did I want to continue to play, and did I want to work to even get back. Obviously, I wanted to continue to play.”

“I made it simple: Get me to Houston.”

Rankins got his wish; he signed a one-year deal worth $7 million with the Texans in March. 

The simple part was getting back to Houston. The hard part was getting back ready to play. His season in Cincinnati was disrupted by viral meningitis and shingles, with which he lost 50 pounds. 

READ MORE: Texans Veteran Makes Bold Claim About Team’s Defense

“A lot of people don’t know, I was literally lying horizontal in my house, in a dark house, for probably about a month and a half before I could really even sit up without feeling kinda crazy,” Rankins said after Monday’s practice.

With his health back and his presence back in Houston, Rankins can help shore up the interior of Houston’s talented defense this season, and hopefully get his career back on track statistically as well.