As the Houston Texans get ready to face off with the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3, the Texans may be planning on running the ball more. That hypothesis comes from the fact that the team is elevating veteran fulback Jakob Johnson from the practice squad for Sunday's game.
“Texans have signed fullback Jakob Johnson to their active roster, per Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey,” ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on Saturday.
Johnson is a seven-year NFL vet who has played for the New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders, and New York Giants before coming to Houston. The German-born fullback was cut and re-signed to the practice squad by the Texans ahead of the 2025 regular season. He played in Weeks 1 and 2 against the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before returning to the practice squad after each game.
Elevating Johnson may mean that the Texans will focus more on the run against the Jaguars in Week 3. In the first two games with the fullback on the roster, the team—led by Nick Chubb and rookie Woody Marks—rushed for 114 and 84 yards.
Johnson is an interesting player, as he did not arrive in the NFL via the traditional path. He was born in Germany to an American father and a German mother, playing American football for the Stuttgart Scorpions before moving to Jacksonville for his senior year of high school. Johnson then played collegiately at Tennessee before returning to the Scorpions in 2018. In 2019, he came to the Patriots through the NFL International Pathway (IPP), which is a program designed to expand the game globally by opening up additional roster spots for foreign-born players.
The 6-foot-3, 255-pound blocking back has carved out a solid career after making the league through the IPP. In fact, Johnson is arguably the second-most successful player who came into the NFL this way. Philadelphia Eagles left tackle, Australian-born Jordan Mailata, is the only IPP player with a better pro football resume than Jakob Johnson.
