Eli Cox was one of a handful of former Kentucky players waived by their respective NFL teams ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s cutdown deadline. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston, Cox, who went undrafted back in the spring, is being released by the Texans. The Houston front office, which was forced to trim its […]
Eli Cox was one of a handful of former Kentucky players waived by their respective NFL teams ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s cutdown deadline.
According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston, Cox, who went undrafted back in the spring, is being released by the Texans. The Houston front office, which was forced to trim its roster to 53 players, made the move hours before the 4:00 p.m. ET deadline hit. However, the 24-year-old is expected to clear waivers and will likely find himself back on the Texans as a practice squad player.
Suiting up at center, Cox saw action in multiple preseason games for the Texans and performed well in stretches early on, but notably was hit with a poorly-timed situational penalty in Houston’s exhibition over the weekend. As for a semi-related note, Zach Yenser, who was once Cox’s offensive line coach at UK in 2022 and 2023, is now the assistant offensive line coach for the Texans.
Cox, a former three-star recruit out of West Jessamine High School, wrapped up his career at Kentucky as a four-year letter winner and four-year starter with 56 games played and 47 starting assignments. He redshirted in 2019, then backed up Kenneth Horsey at left guard before taking over as the full-time starter as a sophomore in 2021, earning Midseason All-America honors by ESPN and AP before suffering a season-ending hand injury after nine games.
From there, Cox started all 13 games in 2022, 13 games in 2023, then another 12 in 2024 to put a bow on his career that included Second Team All-SEC honors as a redshirt senior (’23) and Third Team All-SEC honors as a sixth-year senior (’24). He allowed just one sack last season in what was his second year as one of Kentucky’s team captains.
Along with Cox, a few of his former Kentucky teammates were also waived this week: LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson (Packers), CB Keidron Smith (Broncos), and EDGE JJ Weaver (Panthers).
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Category: Football
