UPDATE: Stingley is expected to miss 6-8 weeks, officially knocking him out of Houston’s Week Four matchup with the Steelers.
As if the Houston Texans haven’t had enough of the injury bug to start the 2023 season, it appears it has bit again to one of their top defensive players.
According to NFL insider Aaron Wilson, CB Derek Stingley Jr. injured his hamstring Wednesday in practice and could be out several weeks as a potential candidate to land on IR.
Stingley reportedly had an MRI done to determine the severity of the injured hamstring with medical experts determining that it will likely be a multi-week injury for Stingley to properly recover from. This almost certainly means that Stingley will miss next week’s game with the Steelers slated to travel to Houston for Week Four.
Stingley is expected to be replaced in the starting lineup by CB Shaq Griffin this Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, likely being the cover man Pittsburgh will see the following week. Griffin started his career with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017 and had a strong run there during his rookie contract. He started 53 regular-season games and posted six interceptions and 48 pass deflections during that span. Griffin parlayed that into a lucrative contract from the Jaguars as a free agent in 2021, but he never lived up to his part of that deal. Griffin made a minimal impact in his first season and missed most of the 2022 campaign due to injury, ultimately getting released this offseason.
Griffin will be replacing Stingley, who was a highly touted corner coming out of LSU, being drafted ahead of All-Pro CB Sauce Gardner at No.3 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. Stingley started nine games as a rookie, logging five pass breakups and an interception while surrendering a 63% completion rate against for 409 yards and zero touchdowns. Going from Stingley to Griffin could be a benefit for the Steelers in this upcoming matchup as Stingley would have likely matched up against WR George Pickens. Griffin is a good athlete in his own right, but Stingley’s loss hurts Houston’s starting lineup as well as its depth.
Hopefully, Pittsburgh can take advantage of his absence and spark its passing game with Houston’s secondary missing a key member when the two face off.
