Joint practices are supposed to be a controlled way to get real reps against someone other than your own guys before Week 1 rolls around. Wednesday's session between the Texans and Panthers turned into anything but controlled. Right tackle Braden Smith and defensive lineman Ali Gaye both went down and needed carts to get off the field, and it happened close enough together that the two of them ended up sharing the same ride inside.
Texans LB Ali Gaye and OL Braden Smith are both being carted off the practice field, per @mike_e_kaye
Smith isn't just a camp body here. He signed with Houston as a free agent this offseason after starting 105 games at right tackle for the Colts over the last 8 seasons, and he was penciled in as a starting option opposite Trent Brown up front. Losing him for any real stretch changes the math on a line that was already trying to gel with a new piece in it.
Gaye, meanwhile, is a more recent addition — Houston claimed him off waivers from Tennessee back in May as he looks to lock down a role in the defensive line rotation. Two different players at two different points in their Texans tenure, but the same cart, on the same afternoon, in front of the same opposing sideline.
A few hours after the video started circulating, Adam Schefter put a specific label on Smith's situation.
Texans believe OL Braden Smith suffered a foot injury today that led to him being carted off.
A foot injury is exactly the kind of thing that can linger into the regular season even when it's not season-ending, which is the real concern here with Week 1 closing in. Houston still doesn't have official word on Gaye's injury, and neither has been given a timeline. For a Texans team that just added Smith specifically to shore up the tackle spot, watching him get carted off before he's played a single regular-season snap in Houston is the last update anyone wanted out of a joint practice.