News

Texans defensive end Antonio Smith returned to practice on Friday after missing two days because of a sore right ankle. He will play against the Jaguars on Sunday.

Smith is listed as questionable on the official injury report, but there weren’t any questions in coach Gary Kubiak’s assessment of him on Friday afternoon.

“Antonio is fine,” Kubiak said. “Antonio practiced today and took his work. He’s ready to go.”

Every Texans starter will play against the Jaguars. The only player listed as questionable for the game is outside linebacker Bryan Braman, who did not practice on Friday because of a hamstring issue. No Texans players were ruled out or listed as doubtful on the final injury report.

Kubiak said Smith probably could have practiced Thursday if the Texans had asked him to. The defensive captain had swelling in his ankle coming out of last Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins.

“It felt alright,” Smith said of practicing on Friday. “It felt a lot better than I thought it would. Sometimes, you over-exaggerate pain, but I got out there on it and once you get over the mindset thing of putting weight on it, it was good. No problems.”

Smith, who refers to himself as the “Ninja Assassin,” said he will have “no issues” with his ankle on Sunday.

“It took a couple more days than usual on my ninja healing qualities, but they came in, due to the training staff, right on time,” he said.

The Jaguars have ruled out starting right tackle Cam Bradfield (ankle) and outside linebacker Daryl Smith (groin), along with running back Rashad Jennings (knee), Austen Lane (foot) and defensive end George Selvie (knee). Starting left guard Eben Britton (ankle) and cornerback Derek Cox (hamstring) are questionable.

Twitter.com/NickScurfield