The Houston Texans will be down a receiver when they square off against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 to begin the 2026 regular season.
Second-year pro Jayden Higgins, a 2025 second-round pick, was lost for th season after tearing his ACL in Houston’s joint practice with the Raiders.
Higgins was the 34th selection in the draft
a year ago and the fourth receiver off the board after an illustrious career at Iowa State.
As a rookie, Higgins was targeted 68 times and caught 41 passes for 525 yards with six touchdowns during the regular season. In the wild-card victory over the Steelers, he accumulated 39 yards on three grabs from C.J. Stroud and snagged six passes for 59 yards in the divisional-round loss to the Patriots the following week.
The 6’4”, 215-pounder appeared on just under 58% of Houston’s offensive snaps during the regular season and averaged 1.45 yards per route run, a respectable albeit far from spectacular figure for a rookie wideout.
Higgins caught four passes for 38 yards with a touchdown snag from Davis Mills right before the end of the first half to give the Texans a 20-16 lead in their eventual win over the Bills.
Given his size, and boundary ability, this will be a difficult receiving option for Houston to replace. Out of his 671 snaps as a rookie, 81.8% came on the outside.
Likely filling Higgins’ spot within Houston’s receiver group is veteran Xavier Hutchinson — another Iowa State product. He was a sixth-round pick in 2023 and set career highs in 2025 with 428 yards and two scores on 35 receptions during the regular season. Hutchinson’s 1.07 yards-per-route run figure (which is exceptionally low) from a season ago was the first time in his NFL career he even reached 1.00 YPPR.
In short, he’s not to Higgins’ talent caliber.
The Higgins injury represents a sizable loss for Houston’s aerial attack, which finished 25th in EPA per drop back in non-garbage time scenarios a season ago — although Stroud did miss three games.
Beyond superstar Nico Collins and Hutchinson, other receivers the Bills may have to deal with in Week 1 include 2025 third-round pick Jaylin Noel — a small, sudden vertical type — and deep depth options Justin Watson, Jared Wayne, a rookie sixth-rounder Lewis Bond.
Higgins was slotted to create an intimidating physical outside tandem with Collins in his second NFL season. Now after his injury, Buffalo’s defensive backs will have less on their plates against the Texans to begin the regular season.
