Kareem Jackson will not return to the Denver Broncos

Kareem Jackson won’t be back on the Broncos’ practice squad.

Instead, he’ll go back to the place where he spent the first nine seasons of his NFL career. The Houston Texans claimed Jackson off of waivers, assuming the two weeks that remain on the one-year contract he signed with Denver last May.

KUSA-Ch. 9’s Mike Klis first reported the move.

The Broncos chose to waive Kareem Jackson on Monday, the deadline for deciding whether to restore him to their 53-player roster. That decision came in the wake of Broncos coach Sean Payton choosing not to activate him in time for last Sunday’s loss to New England.

Last Thursday, Kareem Jackson noted that Payton had not reached out to him with a message upon his return from the four-game suspension. That was different than what transpired when Jackson returned from his two-game suspension in November, when Payton left Jackson a playful message.

Upon waiving Jackson on Monday, the Broncos had the possibility of putting Jackson on the practice squad if he cleared waivers.

“Each week we’ll see and keep you posted by the end of the week or certainly by game time,” Payton said Tuesday morning. “A lot of it will be dependent on who we’re playing and what their role and the vision is.”

But now that the Texans claimed Jackson, the point is moot.

Jackson began his career with the Texans in 2010. He spent two seasons as a teammate of current Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, before the latter moved on to a four-season stint with the Philadelphia Eagles before embarking on his coaching career.

The cornerback-turned-safety joined the Broncos as an unrestricted free agent in 2019. The Broncos chose not to exercise their option on Jackson’s contract in 2021, but they re-signed him days later. Jackson signed subsequent one-year deals with Denver in 2022 and 2023.