Patriots sign recently-released Texans edge rusher before divisional matchup

As the New England Patriots get ready to face the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday, a former member of the Texans is coming to Foxboro. On Wednesday morning Ian Rapoport of NFL Network was the first to share that former Texans edge rusher Darrell Taylor is signing with the Patriots' practice squad.

Taylor, 28, signed with the Texans back in the spring. He played in four games mainly in a situational role in a deep pass rush rotation, then landed on IR with an ankle injury in early November. Houston designated him to return from IR ahead of their Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but then released him on Monday.

This is Taylor's fifth NFL season. He spent his first three years with the Seattle Seahawks and then last year with the Chicago Bears as a situational rusher. In 69 career games he's recorded 126 tackles with 24.5 sacks. That includes a career high 9.5 sacks in 2022 while with Seattle.

With that experience, could Taylor get a shot at appearing in a game for the Patriots this postseason - perhaps even against his old team? Rapoport did note in his tweet that there is "the strong possibility of elevating him for the playoffs."

That being said, the Patriots' pass rush is coming off of one of its best performances of the season as a unit in the Wild Card round against the Chargers. Harold Landry returned playing opposite K'Lavon Chaisson, with Elijah Ponder and Anfernee Jennings also rotating in.

In order to make Taylor's signing official, the Patriots will need to open up a spot on the practice squad. The team has been busy shuffling players on the practice squad as of late, including making four signings on Tuesday.