Houston Texans' DB Shockingly Retires Before 2025 Season

The Houston Texans have had one of their veteran cornerbacks suddenly retire in the wake of the 2025 NFL season.

According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Texans cornerback Ronald Darby has retired after ten seasons in the NFL at 31 years old, per league sources.

Another retirement: Veteran CB Ronald Darby, who played 10 seasons and helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LII, informed the Houston Texans that he is retiring from the NFL, per sources. pic.twitter.com/ZC9RqbSqqv
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 2, 2025

Darby was most recently with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 2024 season before signing with the Texans defense for the year ahead.

During his last season with the Jaguars, Darby was a starter in 12 games, putting together totals of 46 tackles three TFLs and nine PBUs. That was enough to land him a one-year, $2 million deal with the Texans earlier this offseason, but now the veteran corner has called it a career before even playing a snap in a Houston uniform.

Darby had suited up for six different teams throughout his NFL career, with his best outcome easily coming in 2018 during his time with the Philadelphia Eagles and their Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots. In 118 career games and 108 starts, Darby put together 447 combined tackles, 12 TFLs, 106 PBUs, and eight interceptions.

While Darby wasn't slated to be a starter within this Texans cornerback room, with those expectations being upon star Derek Stingley and last offseason's second-round pick Kamari Lassiter, he was an interesting veteran piece to place within this secondary for next year.

But now with the announcement of Darby's sudden retirement, Houston will be forced to look elsewhere for that depth at corner, perhaps leading to an extended role being opened for rookie cornerback Jaylin Smith, who was selected out of USC during the third round in April's draft, or even a similar veteran signing from the remaining batch of free agents still on the open market.

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