Higgins Is Done for 2026. Now Houston Finds Out What the Rest of the Room Can Do.

Jayden Higgins tore his ACL in a joint practice with the Raiders on Tuesday and is out for the entire season. He caught 50 passes for 623 yards and 6 touchdowns last year — his second year in the league — and was expected to be the clear No. 2 option in the passing game behind Nico Collins. That role is now vacant heading into Week 1 against the Bills.

Collins remains the anchor. He put up 1,138 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns across 16 games in 2025, and there's no reason to expect that changes. But the names behind him on the depth chart — Jared Wayne, Jha'Quan Jackson — haven't logged meaningful production in the grounding I've tracked all season. Jaylin Noel, who contributed 292 yards and 2 touchdowns last year, was already lost before camp. The room got thin fast, and it got there before a single regular-season snap.

Tank Dell is the obvious name to watch. I noted his return to limited practice earlier this month, but his availability for Week 1 remains unclear, and "limited practice in August" is a long way from a full workload in September. Houston can't plan around him yet. The news cycle has already floated the sign-or-trade question, and my read is that Caserio will need to answer it before the roster cuts come — the depth behind Collins is too thin to absorb a full season without adding something from outside.

Stroud threw for 3,503 yards and 21 touchdowns last year with this group intact. The core — Stroud, Collins, Dalton Schultz, a functional backfield — is still there. But Higgins wasn't just a depth piece; he was a genuine third-down threat in his second season, and losing that kind of production without a clear replacement is the kind of thing that shows up in close games. Houston won exactly 60% of those last year. They can't afford to make that number worse.