Wide receiver Jayden Higgins tore his ACL during joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders, and will miss the entire season.
Higgins initially walked off under his own power after what looked like a lower-leg injury, but the diagnosis turned out to be far more serious.
Breakout Season Cut Short
Higgins, the No. 34 overall pick in the 2025 draft out of Iowa State, was coming off a very promising rookie year, catching 41 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns across 17 games, stepping into an elevated role after Tank Dell's own season-ending injury late in 2024.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Texans star WR Jayden Higgins suffered a torn ACL yesterday during the joint practice.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 19, 2026
Higgins will be out for the entire season.
A devastating loss to Houston's offense 🙏 pic.twitter.com/0c8d7khWoF
His production trended upward as the season went on. Four of his six touchdowns and both of his best single-game yardage totals came in Weeks 10 through 18, and his target share climbed 8.1 percentage points during Houston's nine-game winning streak to close the year.
He added nine catches for 98 yards across two playoff games.
Fellow Texans receiver Nico Collins had been raving about Higgins' development just weeks earlier. "He's a dog," Collins said August 1. "You see the work he's been putting in, it's showing up on the grass field. He has all the tools in the world. He's going to be the face of this franchise at some point."
Second ACL Tear In A Week For Houston
Higgins' injury is the second significant ACL tear to hit Houston's roster in the span of a week. Backup quarterback Graham Mertz suffered his own during the Texans' first preseason game against the Chargers, adding to a rough stretch of camp injuries for the organization.
Higgins was listed as a starting receiver on Houston's first unofficial depth chart alongside Collins and Xavier Hutchinson, and his absence pushes some big opportunity toward the rest of the room.
Hutchinson, at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, profiles as the closest like-for-like replacement in terms of size, while third-round pick Jaylin Noel could see more snaps both in the slot and outside.
The biggest variable remains Dell, who is still working his way back after dislocating his knee and tearing his ACL, MCL, and LCL late in 2024.
