The Houston Texans have come a long way under head coach DeMeco Ryans. The Texans rose from the ashes in Ryan’s first year, winning an AFC South title and reaching the divisional round of the playoffs. With C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. emerging as franchise cornerstones, there were high expectations coming into last year. But while the Texans repeated as division champions, they suffered the same fate with a divisional round playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In his third season, Ryans is looking to help the Texans take another step forward. While most of the attention has gone to the offensive line, Houston needed help in other areas to compete with some of the best teams in the AFC.
That means that some new faces will need to step up and a Texans rookie has already risen to the challenge as the offseason has come to a close.
Texans WR Jayden Higgins Will Be an Instant Contributor in 2025
One of the Texans’ biggest needs this offseason was to add more playmakers at receivers. With Tank Dell out indefinitely, Houston gave Nico Collins a pair of partners early by acquiring Christian Kirk in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars and selecting Jaylin Noel in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. But the main attraction may be Noel’s Iowa State teammate Jayden Higgins.
Higgins was selected in the second round of April’s draft, coming off a stellar career with the Cyclones. After catching 140 passes for 2,166 yards and 15 touchdowns in his two years as a starter, Higgins drew comparisons to Collins from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler.
It's fair to be skeptical that a rookie receiver can have an immediate impact (older readers will remember the “third year receiver breakout rule” from playing fantasy football in the 2000s). But ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime suggested that could be the case after watching him make big plays during OTA workouts and minicamp.
“The Texans’ on-field work for OTAs were pretty quiet as quarterback C.J. Stroud didn’t throw for most of spring football practices outside of minicamp. But one player who did make noise was second-round rookie wideout Higgins,” Bien-Aime wrote. “The big-body receiver flashed his downfield ability by beating multiple cornerbacks throughout the spring, including starting cornerback Kamari Lassiter. When the Texans return to the field on July 23 for training camp, Higgins is squarely positioned to compete for a starting role.”
Ryans also shouted out Higgins for his preparation and attitude during the offseason program.
“It’s really exciting to see Jayden’s growth process in a short amount of time that he’s been here,” Ryans said. “I’ve seen a guy who’s steadily got better every single week. You’ve seen him make even more plays. And seeing him today, I mean…this is the most plays that he’s made and in our last week of camp to see a rookie who’s come in and showing right now that he could be an impact player for us. I think it means a lot.”
If Higgins is a premier target, it would be an unprecedented event in Texans history. Only four receivers (Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, Dell and Will Fuller) have recorded over 600 receiving yards in their rookie season and only Johnson and Hopkins had more than 50 receptions in their rookie campaign. Dell also had seven touchdowns in 2023 but the next closest was Johnson’s four touchdowns during the 2023 campaign.
All of this could come to fruition when the Texans head to camp and Higgins has a chance to become an even bigger revelation this month.