Kentucky's Eli Cox reaches UDFA deal with Houston Texans

From Nicholasville to Houston, Eli Cox is off to the NFL — and joining a potential contender. The former Kentucky offensive lineman, who started 38 consecutive games as a Wildcat to wrap up his career in Lexington, has signed with the Texans as an undrafted free agency.

His agency, Octagon Football, broke the news shortly after the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft.

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Cox, a former three-star recruit out of West Jessamine HS in 2019, wrapped up his career at Kentucky as a four-year letter winner and four-year starter with 56 games played and 47 starting assignments. He redshirted in 2019, then backed up Kenneth Horsey at left guard before taking over as the full-time starter as a sophomore in 2021, earning Midseason All-America honors by ESPN and AP before suffering a season-ending hand injury after nine games.

From there, he started all 13 games in 2022, 13 games in 2023, then another 12 in 2024 to put a bow on his career that included Second Team All-SEC honors as a redshirt senior (’23) and Third Team All-SEC honors as a sixth-year senior (’24). Cox allowed just one sack on the year while totaling 72 blocks at the point of attack and 10 knockdown blocks, grading out at 76 percent for the season and an assignment grade of 99 percent.

The two-time team captain came to Kentucky as the No. 1369 overall prospect and No. 83 IOL in the 2019 On3 Industry Ranking — a consensus three-star.

An interesting twist of Cox’s signing with the Texans? He will join former Kentucky offensive line coach Zach Yenser, who is now the assistant offensive line coach in Houston. Yenser spent 2022 and 2023 coaching Cox in Lexington.

It was an eventful 2025 NFL Draft for the Wildcats, two players hearing their names called in Green Bay, starting with Maxwell Hairston at No. 30 overall in the first round by the Buffalo Bills. From there, Deone Walker joined Hairston — and Ray Davis, for that matter — in Buffalo, selected by the Bills in the fourth round at No. 109 overall.

The names have been coming off the board in a hurry among undrafted free agents, Cox joining safety Zion Childress (Dallas Cowboys), linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (Green Bay Packers) and left tackles Marques Cox (Denver Broncos) all inking deals in the first wave of signings. D’Eryk Jackson, Gerald Mincey, Octavious Oxendine, Alex Raynor, Tre’Vonn Rybka, Kristian Story, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye and J.J. Weaver will also be looking for UDFA deals in the coming days.

Congrats to a local talent getting his shot in the NFL!