Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak reiterated many things during Wednesday's practice session, but the most significant point is that even though training camp and half of the NFL preseason is completed, there's plenty of work to be done.
And it starts Saturday night in San Francisco against the 49ers.
This is the Texans' third and most important preseason game.
It's almost like a regular season game.
"Well, we're going to play our (starters) into the third quarter, so it will probably be the fourth quarter before you see most of those young guys," Kubiak said via the Texans website yesterday. "Remember now, you're going to turn around four days later and see them for four quarters. We'll get plenty of football out of them between now and Minnesota."
That means former Paradise High School and University of Oregon wide receiver Jeff Maehl will still see plenty of game time in a Texans uniform.
Only Kubiak knows when No. 15 will be called upon to contribute.
Maehl, a 2007 Paradise graduate, played very little in the team's week two preseason win over New Orleans. He accrued one special teams tackle and zero catches against the Saints.
Maehl's depth chart status, according to the Texans website, remains unchanged.
The 6-foot, 190-pound slender wide out is listed alongside Paul Williams and Trindon Holliday under the "other" category for the second wide receiver position.
Williams was sidelined with an injury yesterday in practice, and it's
unclear whether he'll play Saturday against the 49ers. Florida Atlantic's Lester Jean, another free agent receiver along with Maehl and LSU's Terrence Toliver, might also sit out in San Francisco with a shoulder injury.
"He's got a pretty banged up shoulder," Kubiak said. "They're in an evaluation process right now. You're not going to see him out here in the next couple days, but (we) should know more here toward the end of this week."
Devard Darling, a late signee with the Texans, will play though, as Kubiak remains confident in the ex-Florida State and Washington State receiver.
"He's got some ability. He's played in this league," Kubiak said. "He's way behind knowing what we do, so that's tough for him, but we're trying to settle him down to see if he can help us. He'll play some this weekend. He'll play a lot of football next week."
Houston's three veteran receivers, five-time pro bowler Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter and Jacoby Jones respectively, who incidentally rank one-two-three on the Texans depth chart, will see the most action against the team out west.
"It's real important. This is the biggest preseason game. This is where the starters play the majority of the game," Houston first string running back Arian Foster said via Houston's website. "We're treating it just like a game week. We have a lot of respect for the 49ers and the organization and we're looking to prove the next week that we can play in this league because that's what it's all about."
Maehl hopes he can play in the league, too.
On the chance he doesn't play Saturday and gets waived three days during first cuts Aug. 30, he'll have a chance to get picked up.
The way the waiver wire works is when a player gets cut by an NFL team, he immediately becomes eligible to be signed by the team with the worst record in the NFL last year. That means that Carolina (2-14 in 2010) would have first crack at Maehl.
If the Panthers pass, the team with the next worst record, Denver, Buffalo and Cincinnati at 4-12 would be on the clock. Arizona, fresh off a 5-12 season, moves into position for the Maehl sweepstakes after that.
If no one chooses to put a waiver claim on Maehl, then he would be deemed to have passed through waivers and would be eligible to sign with any team.
He even could resign with the Texans and join the practice squad, which is assembled one day after the 53-man roster on Sept. 4.
Wherever Maehl ends up, he needs to prove he belongs, just like every other player on the Texans roster right now.
"I just told them I've got (90) guys I'm staring at and I get to keep 53, so they can do the math," Kubiak said. "They've got a lot of work to do in the next eight days to try to find a way to be on this team."
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