Houston Texans running back Ben Tate will undergo ankle surgery on Tuesday or Wednesday, head coach Gary Kubiak said on Sunday.

Tate suffered a "very significant" right ankle injury during the third quarter of last night's pre-season opener against the Arizona Cardinals. Tate had 7 yards rushing, and 5 yards receiving before his injury.

A second-round pick out of Auburn, Tate ran for 3,321 yards and 24 touchdowns during his college career before running a sub-4.4 time in the 40-yard dash with a 40.5" vertical leap at the Combine.

Tate (5-11, 220) was expected to be the big, powerful, downhill runner to complement Steve Slaton in Houston's one cut-and-go run game, but a hamstring injury kept him out of most of the Texans' OTAs had him behind Arian Foster and Slaton on the depth chart.