August is here, and you know what that means: football is back!
Harbaugh pounding Trey Lance's pads. Football has never been more back pic.twitter.com/6sgAhNS6ym
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) August 1, 2025
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Troy Taormina-Imagn ImagesOkay, well, sort of…the NFL regular season is still a month away, but the preseason is now officially underway after the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Detroit Lions in the Hall of Fame Game last night. Under the bright Canton lights, old football legends were honored, big plays were made, and the world got one step closer to the return
of Texans football.
While Houston’s first preseason game isn’t until August 9, they’ve still made plenty of headlines after their first week of training camp. C.J. Stroud and his new-look offensive line have been a captivating (if distressing) sight to Houston faithful, the ball-hawking defensive backfield is already making their presence known, and a fight broke out. But, one headline I’ve been particularly happy to see is the performance of wide receiver Christian Kirk.
#Texans slot wide receiver Christian Kirk @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/HQDHzxy642
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) July 30, 2025
Kirk is one of several new receivers general manager Nick Caserio signed in 2025, sending a 2026 seventh-round draft pick to the division rival Glitter Kitties in order to absorb Kirk and his $15.5 million salary. Entering his eighth year, Kirk has gone through a whirlwind of changes since entering free agency in 2022. He signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Jaguars in March of that year, had the best season of his career just months later, and then saw both his 2023 and 2024 campaigns derail midseason due to injuries. The most recent one, a fractured collarbone, kept him out of football for the last nine weeks of the season, the longest absence of his career.
At first glance, then, this trade may seem a little puzzling. Why would Caserio trade for an expensive receiver that only produced 379 total yards last season and may be injury-prone? Well, thanks to the power of NFL funny money, Houston was able to convert $14.245 million of his 2025 salary into a signing bonus, so the paycheck is not very punishing at all. On top of that, when Christian Kirk is fully healthy, he’s very hard to stop. Nathan Jahnke of PFF noted,
”Kirk has been the most consistent slot receiver in recent seasons, finishing with 5.2 targets per game in the slot, which is the most among wide receivers over the past three seasons. Typically, slot receivers are better against zone defense than man, but Kirk has been dominant against man defenses. His 2.66 yards per route run against man are the seventh-most among wide receivers. Kirk has also played well against press and when lined up out wide.” - Nathan Jahnke, PFF
Kirk has clearly carved out a place for himself in modern NFL offenses, his skillset as a slot receiver have made him a productive option. If you turn on his tape from last season, as well, you can quickly diagnose why quarterbacks like throwing to him so much: he’s blistering fast and subtle with his separation. Kirk has made running these snappy, jittery slant and dig routes an art form, displaying remarkable timing when breaking away from defenders, leaving them stunned as he uses his burst to gain separation.
Much like many other slot receivers, Kirk loves to keep his feet low to the ground and in-bounds when making sideline catches. A route-runner, a reliable catcher, and an easy slot target for Stroud…are these descriptors reminding you of someone else? Someone by the name of Tank Dell?
Everytime I see Christian Kirk wear 13 I do a double take because I remember when Tank Dell wore 13 for the Texans. pic.twitter.com/1RHesHuyBI
— James Roy (@JamesRoyNFL) June 13, 2025
Yeah, maybe Christian Kirk is Houston’s surrogate version of fellow receiver Tank Dell, who is still rehabbing his major knee injury, but another starting-caliber option on the team is about as good of a replacement you could ask for. Kirk isn’t quite as flashy, nor as dangerous after the catch as Tank Dell, but he remains a remarkably similar player overall, which is exactly what C.J. Stroud needed after Dell went down in Week 16 last year. Depth at positions like this could guarantee Stroud never endures a slump in performance again, but Kirk isn’t the only new addition that can help Stroud in 2025, he’s also got new offensive coordinator Nick Caley in his corner!
CJ Stroud To Christian Kirk! #htownmade pic.twitter.com/t8lCmGdabC
— 713 Houston Sports (@713HouSports) July 29, 2025
Caley, formerly the Los Angeles Rams’ passing-game coordinator and tight ends coach, has had experience tuning offenses for minds like Matthew Stafford and Tom Brady. He arrives in Houston with a fresh new gameplan for Stroud, no doubt full of gap-rushing plays and short-range passes to slot receivers. Under Caley, quarterbacks feasted on the middle of the field and slot receivers like Cooper Kupp and Julian Edelman enjoyed some of their very best seasons. Kirk went on to say about Caley’s offense:
“Yeah, you know, I think with just what we’re able to do personnel-wise, going from 12 to 11 personnel, being able to move guys around in an offense, that’s something that, you know, I’ve done in the past, and I really enjoy, you know, not just me playing in the slot and Nico being outside by himself, you know, putting Nico in the slot sometimes, putting ‘Hutch’ [WR Xavier Hutchinson] in the slot, putting ‘Jay’ [Noel], you know, just moving guys around and dictating, you know, the defense with, you know, formation and motion I think is the best way to operate as an offense, and Nick has done a great job of, you know, being able to install that so far and putting us at a spot where we can keep on evolving. So that’s one of the things that I really, you know, enjoy and that I’ve done in the past that’s helped me so far.” - Christian Kirk in Cole Thompson’s “Everything Texans WR Christian Kirk said after day 4 of training camp” on TexansWire
There’s really a lot of things Christian Kirk can accomplish in an offense like Nick Caley’s. He can be the center of the offense, or a decoy, or a short-yardage specialist, or even a speedster than only comes in for the 30+ yard passes. Although, Kirk’s productive and success rate seemed to dip a bit last year as his average depth of target grew to it’s highest point of his career (13.7 yards), so he may be more effective in the quick-passing game than otherwise. Additionally, at just 5’11”, 200 lbs, Christian Kirk is not going to be successfully leaping for contested catches and laying down massive blocks. He can block a little bit, but if this snap against the Cleveland Browns in Week 2 is any indication, Houston won’t be mistaking Kirk for Julian Edelman or Cooper Kupp.
On top of that, Nick Caley’s new offense asks for the quarterback to exercise a significant amount of control over everything. Along with developing a rapport with Kirk during camp, Stroud will also start changing protections at the line of scrimmage, point out blitzers to his teammates, and even audible to other plays on his own. These are all things Stroud did in a very limited capacity in 2023 and 2024, but with Nick Caley, his responsibilities will grow. And that’s not all! C.J. Stroud will also be adapting to a heavily changed offensive line, complete with 3-5 new starters. This is the cherry on top of challenges Stroud is navigating this offseason, getting used to Christian Kirk is probably not at the top of his priorities…or is it?
Calen Bullock on Christian Kirk:
— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) July 30, 2025
“Very dangerous slot WR. He a slot pro. He good in that slot.”
Nicknames for Kirk continue to pile up. https://t.co/7BdjHR9wiD pic.twitter.com/jCJhB8CE3r
Maybe, with this new collection of offensive linemen to get used to, Stroud will be more likely to default to check-down routes in moments of confusion. Maybe a hodge-podge offensive line will encourage Stroud to keep his eyes closer to the line of scrimmage, and yield more targets for Christian Kirk! Or, at the very least, his presence in the slot should encourage defenses to blitz less and play more zone coverage, which may end up being the key that unlocks Houston’s offense from the cuffs of a bad o-line. If Kirk is able to succeed in being a slot demon for the Texans, that could take a lot of the defense’s attention off of the offensive line. Taking that pressure off the weak link of Houston’s offense could end up going a long way to making a balanced attack, hopefully with far less sacks than 2024. Finally, C.J. Stroud may have enough time in the pocket to fire at least one deep shot every game.
Although, who’s to say that slot receiver will be Christian Kirk? I feel confident in the thought that Kirk will secure the slot position on the Texans due to his multiple years of success in the slot, but with other additions like Braxton Berrios, Jaylin Noel, and Jayden Higgins, the competition is fierce. Kirk’s aforementioned lack of blocking ability may hurt Nick Caley’s scheme, so a committee approach is real possibility, as well. What do you think? Will Christian Kirk succeed as slot receiver and unleash the Texans’ offense, or will be just be another guy in the mess of speedsters that have come trough Houston before? Let us know down in the comments below!
GO TEXANS!!!!
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