Texans Reveal Dalton Schultz Injury Update After Patriots Game

The Houston Texans had a crushing end to their 2025 season with a Divisional loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. This marked the third consecutive loss in the Divisional Round for the Texans, and at this point, they just have to hope things go better next season.

Luckily for the Texans, things could have gone even worse in the loss to the Patriots. Standout TE Dalton Schultz left the game early with a calf injury, but fortunately, he avoided serious injury.

"Dalton's gonna be okay. It's just a calf, I don't think it's gonna be anything major," Texans GM Nick Caserio said on Wednesday. "...Dalton had a really good season. I mean, he broke the franchise record for career receptions by a tight end. And the guy whose record he broke was a damn good player... Dalton had a really good year. He was healthy. He, quite frankly, wasn't healthy last year."

#Texans GM Nick Caserio said that both TE Dalton Schultz & Cade Stover avoided MAJOR injury in the divisional round loss to #Patriots pic.twitter.com/2yyosFdu5G
— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) January 21, 2026

Schultz's productive season

The 29-year-old TE had a very productive season with the Texans, finishing as the team's second-leading receiver, trailing only star WR Nico Collins. Not only did Schultz play all 17 games for Houston this season, but he racked up 82 catches for 777 yards and three touchdowns.

Luckily, Schultz is under contract for one more year, as he is a vital target for young QB C.J. Stroud to have. The reliable pass-catcher suffered the calf injury on just the second drive of Sunday's playoff game, and while his absence was no excuse for Stroud's abominable performance, having him on the field certainly would have helped.

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Stover also avoids major injury

Not only did Schultz go down, though, but backup TE Cade Stover also exited the game with a knee injury as he attempted to catch a poor pass from Stroud. Luckily, though, Caserio confirmed that Stover's injury was not as bad as it looked.

"Cade, I think he avoided serious injury. I think he's gonna be okay. Probably gonna be ready for the offseason programs. Probably not as bad as it looked. It looked pretty bad, but I think he's going to be okay. Overall, we got pretty good production from that [tight end] group."

#Texans TE Cade Stover goes down with a knee injury. Leg got stuck in the ground-- went down in a lot of pain. pic.twitter.com/srZYVtBLNe
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) January 18, 2026

The Texans certainly would have liked to have gotten more significant production from their TE group, but injuries certainly limited them. Of course, Schultz stayed healthy until the playoffs, but they had other concerns throughout the season.

The Texans will be fortunate to have both Schultz and Stover healthy for the start of the 2026 season, as Schultz, especially, should continue to play a major role in Houston's offense.

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