Houston Texans @ Minnesota Vikings
U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
August 9, 2025 – 9 p.m. BST

The Minnesota Vikings get their 2025 preseason campaign underway on Saturday with a home game against the Houston Texans. It’s the Vikings’ first opportunity to see how this year’s roster performs in a game situation, and should give the first real indications about who’ll survive when the roster is cut from 90 to 53 on August 26th.

Read on to find out how you can watch this game and which players to keep an eye on.

How to watch Texans vs. Vikings

  • Texans vs. Vikings date: Saturday, August 9th
  • Texans vs. Vikings kickoff time: 9 p.m. BST
  • Texans vs. Vikings channel: Sky Sports Action (Sky 412/416 (Ireland), Virgin Media 507, Now TV) / DAZN (stream)

This game is available live and in full to stream via NFL Game Pass on DAZN. With Sky having renewed their broadcasting deal with the NFL for 2025 and beyond, you can also catch the game live 9 p.m. on Sky Sports Action via Sky, Virgin Media and Now TV.

What uniforms are the Vikings wearing against the Texans?

As the home team, the Vikings will wear their home combination of purple jerseys and white pants, while the Texans will wear their road uniforms of white jerseys and navy blue pants.

Players to watch

Rondale Moore

As well as providing an opportunity for players to get up to speed ahead of the regular season, preseason games also allow the coaching staff to get a feel for the players on the fringes of the squad. With the deadline to reduce the roster from 90 to 53 fast approaching, and only three games to assess players in, every snap is vital in ensuring the best squad make it for week 1. Some key positions are still up for grabs and these are the players to keep a close eye on:

  • QB JJ McCarthy
    • We’ll probably only see JJ play for a couple of series on Saturday, and I wouldn’t expect him to put up any huge numbers. What I’d be hoping for is to see him making the right decisions about pre-snap reads and post-snap progressions, and to make sure he’s not lost a step by missing an entire year of football. We probably also want to see Sam Howell on the field for a bit, hopefully justifying why we traded back in the fifth round to bring him in as our QB2.
  • WR Rondale Moore
    • In a career beset by injury, Moore’s struggled to live up to the potential promised by his second-round selection by the Cardinals in 2021. With a vacancy in the wide receiver corps for the first three weeks of the season, he’ll be keen to show why he should be the one promoted up the depth chart to cover Jordan Addison’s suspension. He’ll also be tasked with returning punts, giving him another opportunity to impress for a roster spot.
  • LB Brian Asamoah
    • The fourth-year linebacker has struggled to break into the starting rotation in his time with the Vikings, and his involvement in a training camp scuffle last week might give the front office the excuse they need to make a $1.5m saving by cutting him. With sixth-round draft choice Kobe King impressing in camp, Asamoah’s days with the Vikings may be numbered unless he can manage a standout performance against the Texans.
  • CB Dwight McGlothern

    • Dwight McGlothern

      An undrafted free agent last year, McGlothern was a bolter for the 53 in 2024. However, the Vikings’ options at cornerback have expanded over the summer and his place might not be so secure come the end of August. UK fan favourite Mekhi Blackmon is returning from an ACL injury and while his recovery is yet to be fully assessed, he should make the roster, while McGlothern’s 2025 equivalent Zemaiah Vaughn has impressed in camp practices, pushing McGlothern back to the roster bubble.

Previous meetings

This is the Vikings’ fifth preseason meeting with the Texans – it should have been the sixth, but a scheduled meeting in 2020 was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That game aside, the most recent preseason clash between the two came in 2013. In the first game of the last ever season at the Metrodome, the Vikings held a 13-10 lead going into halftime, having allowed a rookie DeAndre Hopkins his first ever pro touchdown. However, the Texans came back with 17 unanswered points in the second half to tie the preseason series between the two franchises at 2-2.

In regular season clashes, the Vikings have had much more luck, recording wins in all six previous meetings. The Vikings’ last meeting with the Texans came just last season, and victory was nothing if not comprehensive. Quarterback Sam Darnold continued his prodigious start to life in purple, throwing for four touchdowns as the Vikings notched a 34-7 win, their biggest of the season.

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