Houston Texans guard Mike Brisiel underwent surgery Monday to repair a broken right leg, and coach Gary Kubiak hopes the lineman will be back in three to four weeks.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Brisiel started all 13 games at right guard for the Texans. Antoine Caldwell will start Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers.
"He had some lower leg pain and it ends up being exactly what Danieal Manning has -- a lower leg fracture," Kubiak said at his Monday press conference. "On the plane last night, we talked about it and hopefully we can be as lucky with him as we were with Danieal. So, we fixed it early this morning. He's doing fine."
The Texans also announced Monday they had waived veteran receiver Derrick Mason.
The Texans (10-3) traded for the 37-year-old receiver in mid-October, sending a draft pick to the New York Jets for him after Andre Johnson went down with a right hamstring injury. Mason caught six passes for 55 yards in seven games.
"For me, I appreciate what Derrick did," Kubiak said. "He was a true pro with me, did a hell of a job for us, but we got some issues going on. We lost Sherrick McManis yesterday to an ankle, which looks like he could miss a little bit of time. I'm concerned about our special teams as we move forward from a standpoint of depth and guys contributing on game day."
Johnson sat out Sunday's win at Cincinnati with a strained left hamstring, but Kubiak is hoping the receiver will return for the next game.
"If I could, I'd have Andre back this next week," Kubiak said. "He needs to play, he needs to get back in the flow of things before we do get to January. But we've got to be smart here. He did nothing last week, a little running in the pool. We'll increase that this week. Where we'll be, I don't know."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
