5 Players You Forgot Who Played For The Houston Texans

Strong points

• Ahman Green rushed for over 8,000 yards with the Green Bay Packers, but struggled during his two seasons with the Houston Texans.
• Rex Grossman threw nine passes for Houston shortly after leading the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl.
• Vince Wilfork won two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots before spending the final two seasons of his career with the Texans.

The Houston Texans are the youngest franchise in the NFL. Although they were technically founded in 1999, the Texans didn’t play their first season in the NFL until 2002, but they still have their fair share of semi-starters that you may not remember playing for them.

For example, Ahman Green rushed for over 8,000 yards with the Green Bay Packers, the most in team history, before finishing his career with the Texans, although he was not as successful in Houston.

Green is one of five players we tracked down who you may not remember playing for the Texans.

1 Ahman Green

Ahman Green’s stint with the Houston Texans has nothing to do with his stint with the Green Bay Packers

As mentioned above, Ahman Green ranks No. 1 on the Green Bay Packers’ all-time leading rushers list, as his 8,322 yards are 115 more than Hall of Famer Jim Taylor, who ranks second.

Green spent eight seasons in Green Bay after beginning his career with the Seattle Seahawks, who selected him in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft and kept him for two seasons. Green never started for Seattle and threw for just 329 yards and one touchdown in two years with the team.

The Seahawks traded Green to the Packers in 2000, and he had four consecutive Pro Bowl seasons from 2001-04. He played seven years in his first stint with the Packers, then returned to the team in 2009 for one final season.

In those first seven seasons, Green rushed for at least 1,000 yards in six of them. His best season came in 2003, when he rushed for a career-high 1,883 yards and finished with a career-best 15 touchdowns.

Green became a free agent after the 2006 season and the Texans signed him to a four-year contract. In two seasons with the Texans, Green started six games and carried the ball 144 times for 554 yards and five touchdowns.

He returned to the Packers in 2009 and rushed for 160 yards in eight games.

2 Rex Grossman

After leading the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl appearance, Rex Grossman threw nine passes for the Texans in 2009

Most people remember Rex Grossman leading the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl berth, but it’s unlikely many remember the one game he played for the Texans in 2009.

Grossman spent the first six seasons of his nine-year career with the Bears and had a magical season in 2006, when he went 13-3 as the team’s starting quarterback. He never had more than two wins in another season.

During his 2006 Super Bowl run, Grossman completed 262 of 480 passes for 3,193 yards and a career-high 23 touchdowns. In the playoffs, he went 2–0 to lead his team to Super Bowl 41 against the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts ultimately won the game by a score of 29–17.

Grossman played two more seasons with the Bears and posted a 2-6 record as a starter during that span. In June 2009, he signed with the Texans as Matt Schaub’s backup. Grossman appeared in one game for Houston, completing three of nine passes for 33 yards and one interception in a 23-18 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Grossman capped his career by playing two seasons with the team now known as the Washington Commanders.

3 Vince Wilfork

Vince Wilfork won two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots before finishing his career with two seasons in Houston

Vince Wilfork spent much of his NFL career threatening opposing offenses by crowding the defensive line with his 320-pound frame. Athletic for a player his size, Wilfork made five Pro Bowls and won two Super Bowls during his 11 seasons with the New England Patriots.

A first-round draft pick out of Miami in 2004, Wilfork anchored a stout Patriots defensive line. He had what was arguably his best season in 2012, with six passes defended, four fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, 48 ​​total tackles, 19 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. He was named a first-team All-Pro that year for the only time in his career.

After spending 11 years in New England, Wilfork signed with the Texans in 2015. He played in all 16 games in his first season with Houston, recording 22 combined tackles. He played in 15 games in 2016, recording 21 tackles.

Wilfork retired in 2017 and is a member of the New England Patriots Hall of Fame.

4 Jake Delhomme

Quarterback Jake Delhomme played one game for the Texans in 2011

Jake Delhomme proved that perseverance pays off.

Undrafted in 1997, Delhomme was signed to the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad, played as a backup quarterback in NFL Europe and was brought back to the Saints as a third-string quarterback before making a name for himself with the Carolina Panthers in 2003.

Delhomme signed with the Panthers as a free agent in 2003 and came in as a Week 1 replacement for Rodney Peete. He threw three second-half touchdown passes in a comeback win and started every game the rest of the season, going 10-5 in his starts to lead the Panthers to the playoffs.

In the playoffs, he won three straight games to lead the Panthers to a berth in Super Bowl 38, where they were defeated by the New England Patriots, 32-29. Delhomme spent seven seasons with the Panthers and finished with a 53-37 regular season record. He made the Pro Bowl in 2005 after going 11-5 and throwing for 3,421 yards and 24 touchdowns.

The Panthers released him in March 2010 and he quickly signed with the Cleveland Browns, with whom he went 2-2 as a starter in his only season with the team.

On November 29, 2011, he signed with the Texans after Schaub and Matt Leinart were injured. After T. J. Yates injured his shoulder in the season finale, Delhomme entered and completed 18 of 28 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown in a 23–22 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Delhomme retired after the season.

5 Taylor Heinicke

Taylor Heinicke completed one pass for the Texans during the 2017 season

Taylor Heinicke has become a longtime NFL quarterback, playing for four teams in six years. Heinicke, who played in college at Old Dominion, had his best professional seasons with the Washington Commanders, going 12-11-1 as a starter over a three-year span.

Heinicke went undrafted in 2015 and was signed by the Minnesota Vikings. He was eventually promoted to the main roster in November 2016, but never played. He was released by the team in September 2017.

In November 2017, Heinicke signed with the Texans, joining their practice squad. He was added to the active roster on December 15 when quarterback Tom Savage was injured. On Christmas Day, he finally made his first appearance in an NFL game, replacing the injured T.J. Yates.

Heinicke completed one pass for 10 yards before being knocked out of the game with a concussion. That was his last game with the Texans.

Heinicke played in six games for the Carolina Panthers in 2018 and was 1-3 in four starts for the Atlanta Falcons in 2023.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted.