Texans OT Laremy Tunsil to undergo thumb surgery

The Texans will be without their top offensive lineman for the foreseeable future. Laremy Tunsil is slated to undergo thumb surgery Thursday, first-year Texans HC David Culley said.

Culley said Tunsil is expected to miss around four weeks, ESPN.com’s Sarah Barshop tweets. This points to an IR stay for the veteran left tackle. Tunsil has made the Pro Bowl in each of his two seasons in Houston. Tunsil suffered a full UCL tear in his thumb, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

While little was expected from the Texans this year, they played well against the Patriots in Week 5. Davis Mills enjoyed by far his best game, totaling 312 passing yards and three touchdown tosses. Tunsil’s injury stands to make the third-round QB pick’s development more difficult. The Texans face the Colts in Week 6. Their bye arrives in Week 10, so Tunsil returning the following week would make sense.

Houston has first-round talent Tytus Howard at guard for the time being, and Culley confirmed the third-year blocker will stay inside rather than move to left tackle to fill in for Tunsil. That is the plan for this week, at least. The Texans have Tunsil attached to a three-year, $66M deal that runs through 2023.