The Houston Texans' full 2025 season schedule was revealed on Wednesday as a part of the NFL's league-wide unveiling. Even though Texans fans already knew which teams head coach DeMeco Ryans & Co. would be facing this fall, the upcoming campaign feels a lot more real now that the exact date of each game is known.
A team's bye week is often what fans first look for whenever a new season's schedule is unveiled. After experiencing a late Week 14 bye last season, the Texans' break will be occurring much earlier this time around, coming in Week 6.
By then, the Texans will have five games under their belt, giving one incoming rookie more than enough time to steal a veteran's job.
Jayden Higgins Will Steal Texans' WR2 Job by Week 7
The Texans opened the offseason looking to address their wide receiver room's depth. With Tank Dell likely missing the entire 2025 campaign, combined with Stefon Diggs leaving in free agency, it was an easy decision for Houston to use last month's 34th overall selection on Iowa State's Jayden Higgins.
Higgins is a 6-foot-4, 214-pound receiving threat who boasts the potential to be one of quarterback C.J. Stroud's favorite targets as early as this fall. The 22-year-old playmaker is coming off a terrific two-year run with the Cyclones that saw him convert 140 receptions into 2,166 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns in 26 games, which includes 2024 second-team All-Big 12 honors.
Higgins has yet to touch an NFL field, but that doesn't mean fans shouldn't expect big things from him as a rookie. After all, it isn't as if he faces that much competition in the WR room outside of Nico Collins.
John Metchie III and Xavier Hutchinson haven't looked that special so far, while free-agent arrivals Braxton Berrios and Justin Watson aren't anything more than supporting cast members. Even Christian Kirk, who was acquired via trade in March, doesn't have a promising outlook after posting a 27-379-1 stat line in an injury-riddled 2024 campaign with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
There's also fellow ex-Iowa State WR Jaylin Noel, but there's no reason both Texans rookies can't thrive in the Stroud-led attack. With all of the uncertainty surrounding Houston's veteran wideouts, there's a decent chance both Higgins and Noel will thrive in Year 1.
Taking the above into account, Higgins has a great shot at returning from the Texans' bye in Week 7 as the team's No. 2 receiver. Again, he'll have half a dozen games of experience by then, making the Week 6 bye the perfect opportunity for Ryans to fully integrate the Cobb County, GA native into the aerial attack.
The Texans will start this year's organized team activities (OTAs) on Wednesday, May 28, meaning it won't be long until fans have a better sense of Higgins' rookie outlook.