Texans DT Sheldon Rankins details battle with viral meningitis, shingles: 'Lost all my strength'

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Sheldon Rankins, a veteran defensive tackle, returns to Houston for 2025 after a health scare sidelined him last season with the Bengals.

The Texans DT revealed Monday that he suffered from viral meningitis and shingles starting in November, which caused him to lose 50 pounds.

“I wasn’t myself last year,” Rankins said, via the Houston Chronicle. “I ended up having a shingles outbreak and viral meningitis at the same time. That kind of knocked me out for a while. … A lot of people don’t know I was laying horizontal in a dark house for probably about a month and a half before I could really even sit up. It was really kind of crazy.”

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Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Viral meningitis is an infection that causes swelling of the fluid and protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

The double-whammy explains Rankins missing the final seven games of the 2024 season due to what was labeled an illness at the time. The Bengals released the 31-year-old in the offseason.

Rankins authored one of his best seasons with the Texans in 2023, generating six sacks and 37 tackles, and scoring his first career touchdown on a fumble recovery. He returns to DeMeco Ryans’ defense as a veteran rotational player.

“I was probably down to 255 [pounds]. Lost all my strength, lost all the weight, [my power],” Rankins said of last year. “I worked my ass off to ensure not only physically that I can come out here and play, but mentally I was past a lot of the stuff. Health-wise, I was internally able to kind of check things off my list and feeling great. I know when I feel good I can be a difference maker.”

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