41 days until the Texans' 2025 season opener: Who has worn No.41?

USA Today

3 days ago

The Houston Texans are less than 50 days away from kicking off the 2025 season in Los Angeles against the Rams at SoFi Stadium and we're counting down the days until a victory ensues on the west coast.
Texans Wire will daily inform you which player has worn the number of the day leading up to kickoff and select the player who best represented the number during their time at NRG Stadium. As for today, let's take a look at who has worn No. 41 since the inaugural season in 2002.
Texans players to wear No. 41
No. 41 currently belongs to veteran cornerback Damon Arnette. Selected 19th overall by Las Vegas in 2020 out of Ohio State, Arnette, 28, was released by the Raiders less than two years later after a video surfaced of the former Buckeyes standout brandishing firearms and making death threats. Although Arnette had a brief stint with the Miami Dolphins on a practice squad that year, he never returned to an active roster on Sunday.
In 13 games, Arnette recorded 29 tackles, one tackle for loss and three pass deflections. He signed with the Chiefs in 2022 but was cut nine days later after he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and other gun charges.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said following the retirement of Ronald Darby that the team would look at multiple options and apparently, Arnette is one of them. Last season, while playing for the Roughnecks in the United Football League, Arnette racked up 18 tackles, five pass breakups and an interception.
Best Player: Zach Cunningham
Although his time was cut short due to a change in the program's direction, Cunningham became a staple of the Texans' front seven and a reliable tackler who took over games as a run-stopper. The Vanderbilt product eventually surpassed Brian Cushing as the new leader at the second level and a solid running mate to Bernardrick McKinney during Houston's peak in the Bill O'Brien era.
A second-round pick, Cunningham quickly proved to be the right fit for a 3-4 unit in both coverage and against the run. He posted three 100-tackle seasons, including an NFL-leading 164 stops in 2020 as the lone bright spot at linebacker amid a 4-12 finish.
The Texans believed Cunningham's best years were ahead of him, which is why they inked him to a four-year, $58 million contract extension with $23.5 million guaranteed ahead of the 2020 season. After that, things went downhill due to injury and personnel changes. In his final season, Cunningham only totaled 67 tackles before being waived in December.
Since his departure, he's bounced around the league, playing for Tennessee, Philadelphia, Denver and now Detroit on one-year contracts. Still, Cunningham's impact in the late 2010s, plus his three triple-digit tackle seasons, warrants a spot on the list as the G.O.A.T. of No. 41.