Texans Have 'Checked In' on Running Backs and Safeties Ahead of Tuesday's Trade Deadline, SI's Breer Reports

The Houston Texans' trade-deadline shopping list has a shape now. In his deadline notebook, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reports that the Texans have 'checked in' on available running backs and safeties - the two positions where injuries have cut deepest into a 2-5 roster. General manager Nick Caserio said at the bye that Houston has talked to essentially every team in the league, while hinting that no move was imminent; Breer's reporting, carried Friday by Texans on SI and Heavy, is the first to name where those conversations are pointing.

The running back room explains itself. David Montgomery has been sidelined since a groin injury in Week 5 against Tennessee - essentially four games - and Jawhar Jordan, who flashed in Week 6, is on injured reserve. The depth chart heading into Sunday's game against the Chargers is led by Woody Marks, Dare Ogunbowale and newly signed Emari Demercado: working backs, but a thin room for a team that wants to run its way out of a losing record.

Safety is the quieter emergency. Reed Blankenship, the offseason signing, has struggled in his first games with Houston and has been out with concussion and hand injuries, and Jalen Pitre has missed time with a shoulder injury, though he is expected back against the Chargers - this station's Thursday practice file had him back at full practice. Behind the injuries sit the numbers: Houston ranks 29th in the league in passing yards allowed, with just three interceptions through seven games.

None of it guarantees a deal. The Texans have already bought at wide receiver this season, adding Kayshon Boutte and Marvin Harrison Jr., and a quiet deadline remains possible. But the deadline is fixed - 3 p.m. Central on Tuesday, November 10 - and Sunday's game at SoFi Stadium is the last evidence the front office gets before it has to decide whether 'checked in' becomes 'traded for.'