The Houston Texans have one preseason game left on their schedule before the regular season starts on Sept. 7 on the road against the Los Angeles Rams.
Throughout training camp and the preseason, several battles have been happening at multiple positions, and right tackle is one of them. But on Monday, Aaron Wilson reported that OT Blake Fisher sprained his ankle on Saturday against the Carolina Panthers. It's still undetermined how long he'll miss in order to make a full recovery, as the injury is considered to be on the milder side.
And with his timeline up in the air, that could be the final nail in the coffin for the RT competition, clearing the way for Aireontae Ersery to be the Day 1 starter.
#Texans right tackle Blake Fisher dealing with sprained ankle, regarded on milder side, recovery time undetermined @KPRC2 https://t.co/pFR2JnHYB7
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 18, 2025
Texans Blake Fisher May Have Lost RT Competition
Fisher is going into his third season with the Texans and entered the summer in a battle with Ersery. The Texans used the 48th pick in the 2025 NFL draft on Ersery, and he's been impressive throughout the offseason thus far.
In The Athletic's Dane Brugler's draft guide, he wrote, "With his NFL-ready build and length, Ersery has a stiff punch to steer rushers wide of the pocket, and he can anchor down when rushers try to attack him down the middle," in regard to Ersery.
He's currently taking reps at left tackle as Cam Robinson is rehabbing from a leg injury, but once Robinson returns, it looks like Ersery will just jump over to the right side. In the two preseason games thus far, he has already flashed great run blocking with the strength to move defenders off the spot.
On Aug. 16 against the Panthers, Ersery finished with a 71.1 overall grade, 70.6 pass blocking grade, and 69.5 run-blocking grade on PFF over 25 snaps.
As for Fisher, he has struggled in training camp against Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson, but that needs to be taken with a grain of salt since that's one of the best pass-rushing duos in the league. In the game versus Carolina, Fisher had problems with false starts.
Meanwhile, during the 2024 season in 15 games (five starts), Fisher had a 50.4 overall grade (113th among 140 graded tackles), 48.3 pass-blocking grade (114th among 140 graded tackles), and a 49.1 run-blocking grade (126th among 140 graded tackles).
Despite being in the pros for two years, Ersery has outplayed Fisher this offseason. Fisher is slated to miss time due to this sprained ankle, and that could be the end of the competition at right tackle.