Guard Chester Pitts, seen being carted off the field after injuring his right knee at Tennessee, has started all 114 games in Texans history.
The Houston Texans placed guard Chester Pitts on the reserve/injured list and signed free agent safety Bernard Pollard, the team announced today.
Pitts (6-4, 308) injured his right knee in the Texans' 34-31 win at Tennessee last Sunday. He underwent season-ending surgery earlier this week. The injury will snap Pitts' streak of 114 consecutive starts. He is the only Texan to start every game in team history. Pitts and kicker Kris Brown are the last remaining members of the 2002 team and are the only players who have appeared in every game.
The 30-year-old Pitts is one of just six offensive linemen to have started every game since 2002, joining New York Jets guard Alan Faneca, Detroit tackle Jeff Backus, Atlanta center Todd McClure and Denver center Kasey Wiegmann. Pitts played primarily at left tackle from 2002-05 before moving to left guard full-time in 2006.
Pitts was selected as an alternate for the AFC Pro Bowl squad last season. He also was named to USA TODAY's All-Joe Team, which honors outstanding but ordinarily unheralded players, in 2003 and 2004.
Pitts was a second-round selection (50th overall) by the Texans in 2002 out of San Diego State, where he walked on to the football team despite not playing football in high school. He started at left tackle his final two seasons for the Aztecs and earned first-team All-Mountain West Conference and third-team All-America honors as a senior in 2001.
Pollard (6-1, 224) spent his first three NFL seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs after being selected in the second round (54th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played in all 48 games with 31 starts during his first three seasons and has recorded 188 career tackles, including 152 solos, with one sack, three interceptions, nine passes defensed, five forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
Pollard has also been a standout special teams player with three career blocked punts to his name, one of which he recovered for a touchdown and another which resulted in a safety.
The former Purdue standout led the Chiefs with a career-high 98 tackles last year, including 84 solos, one tackle for loss, an interception, four passes defensed, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He was released by the Chiefs in the final round of roster cuts during training camp this summer.
