Texans Pick Up Former Buccaneers Safety

Merriweather was just released from the Buccaneers following the events of Week 15, leading to him going unclaimed and clearing waivers, to now joining aboard the Texans.

It'll be Merriweather's second stop in the NFL after initially starting with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2023 as a product out of Iowa, now coming to Houston in an attempt to carve out a fresh role in a new defense after falling out of the mix in Tampa Bay.

Texans Sign Former Bucs S Kaevon Merriweather

Merriweather, who had appeared in 12 games for the Buccaneers before being released, had been forced to a bit of a lesser role from what he'd previously seen in 2024— only seeing 18 snaps on defense, primarily acting as a piece on special teams. In that 12-game sample size, Merriweather had eight tackles and one tackle for loss.

Now, Merriweather finds his way to Houston's practice squad as a potential depth piece in the back-end for a Texans safety unit that's seen considerable change throughout the season; starting with C.J. Gardner-Johnson, pairing with multiple injuries to Jaylen Reed, Jimmie Ward, and M.J. Stewart, but have still remained afloat to help this team stick as one of the best defenses in the NFL 15 weeks in.

He'll now join onto the Texans practice squad, already with several names at defensive back, including former first-round pick Damon Arnette, rookies Eli Cox and Alijah Huzzie, and veterans K'Von Wallace and Brandon Hill.

It remains to be seen if Merriweather sees any in-game snaps for the Texans for their final three games of the year, but it could be in play for any event that Houston suffers more availability issues to their safety room in the coming weeks.