Jayden Higgins Tears ACL: Fantasy Football Impact On Nico Collins, Tank Dell & Rest Of Texans
Fantasy

Jayden Higgins Tears ACL: Fantasy Football Impact On Nico Collins, Tank Dell & Rest Of Texans

Houston Texans' WR2, Jayden Higgins, has a torn ACL. What does it mean for the outlook of Nico Collins, Tank Dell and the rest of the Texans for fantasy football?

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NFL training camps have already hit us with a boatload of injuries, but nothing season-ending on the skill-position side of things—until now. It's now been confirmed that Houston Texans wideout Jayden Higgins suffered a torn ACL in practice, creating an even bigger void at an already underwhelming WR2 spot in the Texans' offense.

What does Higgins' ACL tear mean for fantasy football? Let's break it down.

HOU_texans-logo.svgFantasy Football Fallout of Jayden Higgins' Torn ACL

Outside of Nico Collins, the Texans pass catchers leave a lot to be desired. The impact on each from this injury will vary, so let's go player by player.

Nico Collins

Collins' role as the WR1 opposite Higgins in 2-WR sets won't change, and he remains the alpha of this offense. We could see a few extra targets come his way as the C.J. Stroud-led passing attack concentrates even more around the star wideout, but I wouldn't expect his fantasy football ADP to change much, if at all. Dwain McFarland has updated our projections to give Collins a slight target share boost as well as a slight bump in TDs given Higgins' now-missing presence in the red zone.

Action: Collins projects as our WR9 in half-PPR and carries a consensus ranking of WR10 in our fantasy football rankings. He is a low-end WR1 with high-end WR1 upside when healthy—a great target at the Round 2/3 turn.

Tank Dell

After missing the entire 2025 season from a gruesome leg injury suffered towards the tail end of 2024, Tank Dell has (slowly) been working his way back for 2026. If he's able to suit up for any part of the season, he's likely to be a massive beneficiary of this injury given the massive upside we saw him flash as a rookie (75-709-7). He should rotate into 2-WR sets and would likely be on the field as the primary downfield threat in 11-personnel formations. Dwain McFarland has moved Dell up to a 60% route participation rate and bumped his targets up with this news.

Action: I've been OK with drafting Dell as a late-round flier in best ball contests, and this further cements him as a WR5/6 play with upside.

Jaylin Noel

While he mainly operates out of the slot, Jaylin Noel has gotten a significant bump with Higgins sidelined, per Dwain McFarland. He's handled the starting slot duties in camp, but has the traits to play outside as the Z receiver opposite Collins. There will be a three-way battle for playing time between Noel, Dell and Xavier Hutchinson, but Dwain's initial read is that we'll see a three-way rotation with Noel getting the slight overall edge in playing time thanks to an already established slot role. His route participation has been bumped up to 65%.

Action: Similar to Dell, Noel profiles as a WR5/6 stab who could surprise us with upside in an expanded role.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. JaydenHiggins
    WRHOUHOU
    PPG
    6.5
  2. Nico Collins
    NicoCollins
    WRHOUHOU
    PPG
    12.0
    Proj
    218.1
  3. Tank Dell
    TankDellQ
    WRHOUHOU
    Proj
    113.0
  4. Jaylin Noel
    JaylinNoel
    WRHOUHOU
    PPG
    2.9
    Proj
    107.1

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