Who Should I Start? Irv Smith Jr. or Donald Parham

Tuesday, September 17, 10:22 PM

The Houston Texans signed free-agent tight end Irv Smith and former starting center Scott Quessenberry to their practice squad on Tuesday following successful tryouts, according to league sources. Smith, a former second-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings out of Alabama, will give Houston more depth at the TE position behind Dalton Schultz, Brevin Jordan and rookie Cade Stover. He has 109 career receptions for 973 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career with the Vikings, Bengals and Chiefs, but injuries have really held him back from reaching his true ceiling. Texans center Juice Scruggs (groin), who missed the Week 2 win over the Bears on Sunday night, is on track to return this week against the Vikings, but Quessenberry will give the team more depth at the position. Quessenberry started for Houston two seasons ago when Justin Britt stepped away for personal reasons.

Friday, February 21, 9:45 PM

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Friday that they signed free-agent tight end Donald Parham Jr. to an undisclosed one-year deal. Parham will head to the AFC North after catching 67 of his 100 targets for 764 yards and 11 total touchdowns in 47 games (23 starts) over his four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers after debuting in 2020. The 27-year-old tight end went undrafted out of Stetson College in 2019. His best season was in 2023 with the Bolts, when he caught 27 of his 41 targets for 285 yards and four touchdowns across 14 regular-season games (eight starts). L.A. released him last August and he latched on with the Denver Broncos' practice squad, but he didn't appear in an NFL game. At 6-foot-8, Parham was mostly a red-zone weapon for the Bolts. He'll attempt to win a roster spot with Pittsburgh out of training camp but can be ignored in most fantasy leagues.