Houston Texans Struggle as Jayden Higgins Slashes ACL, Impacting 2026 Season
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The Houston Texans’ quest to put it all together in 2026 suffered a mammoth blow on Wednesday with the news that starting wide receiver Jayden Higgins tore his ACL in joint practice with the Raiders. The team has not made an official announcement on the injury, with news thus far coming from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, however, it’s likely the injury will cause Higgins to miss the season.
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Yahoo SportsThe Houston Texans' quest to put it all together in 2026 suffered a mammoth blow on Wednesday with the news that starting wide receiver Jayden Higgins tore his ACL in joint practice with the Raiders. The team has not made an official announcement on the injury, with news thus far coming from the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, however, it's likely the injury will cause Higgins to miss the season.
CBS SportsPromising second-year Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins tore his ACL in Tuesday's joint practice with the Ravens and will miss the entire 2026 season, ESPN reports.
Bleacher ReportHouston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins suffered a torn ACL in Tuesday's joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders, according to ESPN and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
ESPNSources: Texans' Higgins tears ACL, out for season Texans second-year wideout Jayden Higgins will miss the season after suffering a torn ACL during a joint practice with the Raiders, sources told NFL Network.
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Higgins was listed as a starter on the Texans’ first depth chart of the season, slotting across from Nico Collins. It was his job to stretch the field as the team’s primary deep threat, which will now likely fall to Jaylin Noel, who was selected in the 3rd round of the 2025 NFL Draft. The team isn’t without depth at the position, but Tank Dell is still recovering from the injury he sustained last season, with the belief that he would be brought along slowly so he could fully heal.
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Yahoo SportsHiggins was listed as a starter on the Texans' first depth chart of the season, slotting across from Nico Collins. It was his job to stretch the field as the team's primary deep threat, which will now likely fall to Jaylin Noel, who was selected in the 3rd round of the 2025 NFL Draft. The team isn't without depth at the position, but Tank Dell is still recovering from the injury he sustained last season, with the belief that he would be brought along slowly so he could fully heal.
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Higgins finished the 2025 season with 41 catches for 525 yards and 6 touchdowns with 10 games as a starter. It’s going to be a rough start for the season in Houston while this team finds ways to adjust.
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Yahoo SportsHiggins finished the 2025 season with 41 catches for 525 yards and 6 touchdowns with 10 games as a starter. It's going to be a rough start for the season in Houston while this team finds ways to adjust.
Bleacher ReportHiggins, a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft, caught 41 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie.
CBS SportsHiggins, 23, was the No. 34 overall pick last year out of Iowa State, and he showed promise as a rookie, posting 41 catches for 525 yards and a team-high six touchdowns. He added nine catches for 98 yards across two playoff games, too.
4 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 Yahoo Sports WR Brandin Cooks Cooks performed admirably for the Buffalo Bills last year after joining the team, proving he's still got something left in the tank. He played for Houston from 2020-2022, so there is some familiarity with the franchise, too. If Cooks wants to keep his NFL career going, the Texans would be a great landing spot for him right now.
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02 SB Nation Now the team is being pressured into finding a quick answer for their receiving corps at a terrible time. Despite boasting one of the best defenses in the NFL last season, the Texans struggled offensively — particularly in the passing game. This was largely due to inconsistent protection for C.J. Stroud, but also a lack of consistency at the WR position due to injuries. The hope was that 2026 would be the marquee year that both Stroud had reliable weapons and the offensive line had been upgraded to allow for him to make throws.
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03 CBS Sports At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Higgins gave C.J. Stroud another physical, big-bodied wide receiver target opposite two-time Pro Bowler Nico Collins (6-foot-4, 222 pounds). In fact, Collins had major praise for Higgins earlier this training camp.
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04 Bleacher Report This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. Make Bleacher Report one of your preferred sources on Google by selecting Bleacher Report on the "source preferences" page here.
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