The Houston Texans let punter Tommy Townsend walk into free agency and sign with division rival Tennessee.
When free agency rolled around, Houston elected not to target a name on the market, but rather trade a future seventh-round pick to the New Orleans Saints for former South Carolina star Kai Kroeger. In the draft, Houston avoided panicking and making the call to select an option, but rather targeted Syracuse’s Jack Stonehouse.
And yes, Kroeger might have been added and is under contract, but Stonehouse will be given a shot to earn first-team reps and make the active roster.
“For Jack,we saw a guy that’s very consistent,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said of Stonehouse earlier this month. “He has a very strong leg. He does a great job of booting the ball. He had a really good first day today. You can hear the ball coming off his foot. That’s the thing that stood out about him today.”
A former All-ACC first-team specialist, Stonehouse averaged a school record 47.1 yards per punt, which also ranked in the top five among FBS punters. He also set a school career record with a 45.8 yards per punt average over his four seasons with the Orange.
“Having that healthy competition is only going to make that position better when it comes to the punter position,” Ryans said. “We’ve got Kai. He’s done it in the league and now adding Jack is going to be really healthy competition coming through training camp.”
Kroeger, who won the starting punter job last season in the Bayou. He averaged 44.8 yards per punt and had 18 of his 28 land inside opponents’ 20-yard lines. But, there was a downside to his kicking: blocks. Kroeger had two blocked punts during the regular season.
The Texans and Stonehouse return to the practice field later this month for voluntary workouts and will kickstart mandatory OTAs in June. The 2026 schedule is expected to be released on Thursday evening
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Could the Texans have found their new punter in rookie Jack Stonehouse?
Reporting by Cole Thompson, Texans Wire / Texans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
