Texans Camp — Aug 23: Higgins Tears ACL, Out for the Year

The Texans lost a starting receiver for the year and signed two veterans off the street inside of four days. Jayden Higgins, the second-year wideout who lines up opposite Nico Collins, tore his ACL in Tuesday's joint practice against the Raiders — he was running a route against cornerback Eric Stokes, reached toward his knee, and walked off under his own power, per Christian Hudspeth at KPRC 2, before Wednesday's MRI confirmed the tear, first reported by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network. Here is the sentence we'd flag for the editor: as a rookie in 2025 he caught 41 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns. Houston placed him on injured reserve Friday and on Saturday signed Zay Jones and Sterling Shepard, per the club's transaction reports. Per Nick Shook at NFL.com, the room behind Collins is now Xavier Hutchinson, Jaylin Noel, and Justin Watson, plus the new arrivals.

The same joint practice, before the injury news swallowed it, was one of C.J. Stroud's better days of the summer — his first work of camp against a defense that wasn't his own. Per Jared Koch at Texans On SI, Stroud threw touchdowns to Woody Marks and Dalton Schultz, hit Collins and Higgins on completions of 10-plus yards, and gave one back late, an interception to Raiders linebacker Quay Walker. DeMeco Ryans afterward: "I thought C.J. did really well today. Some really nice plays, all day." His read on the protection was just as specific — "I'd say about 50-50 on the pressures. I liked the way our o-line battled" — and Koch's charting had sacks conceded to Maxx Crosby and Tommy Eichenberg. Rookie center Keylan Rutledge got into a minor altercation that resolved quickly, per Koch. The practice satisfied the staff enough to change the game plan: most starters, including Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, were held out of Thursday's game, per Koch, citing reporting from Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle and Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2.

The game itself, a 22-20 loss to the Raiders, was livelier than the score's shrug. Stroud played the first quarter and went 4 of 6 for 27 yards, per the CBS Sports box score. The 14-0 start belonged to linebacker Wade Woodaz, who jumped rookie Fernando Mendoza's third pass and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown, and to Marks, who turned four carries into 37 yards and a 20-yard touchdown run, per Koch. Defensive tackle Kayden McDonald opened the second quarter with an 11-yard sack. Now deflate it honestly: Las Vegas sat Kirk Cousins, Crosby, Ashton Jeanty, and Brock Bowers, and the comeback came against the bottom of Houston's roster, finished by Aidan O'Connell's one-yard sneak with 14 seconds left. The roughest audition was Brett Rypien's — 6 of 10 for 44 yards with an interception, a fumble, and two sacks, per Koch — and it matters because Rypien is the arm signed after Graham Mertz's season-ending knee injury, auditioning for the third quarterback job with no one behind him. Houston is 0-2 this preseason, which files under nothing.

The week's best position battle is at right tackle, and it got a third name. Blake Fisher took first-team right tackle reps in the joint practice and held up against Crosby, per Koch — "Blake did a nice job today," Ryans said — even as Koch frames Fisher as the projected fourth tackle whose roster spot could be in question if Houston keeps three. Then Saturday's practice ran the preseason starting configuration with Trent Brown at right tackle, and Brown lost reps to Will Anderson, per Cody Stoots at HouFootball.com, with Braden Smith still competing for the same job and the team's own depth chart still carrying an "or" at the position. Three candidates, no announcement, one week to cutdown.

The rest of the ledger, quickly, weighted by what changed. Jaylin Noel returned to full practice Saturday and looked, in Stoots's word, lightning quick, after a finger injury had been limiting him. Woodaz watched that same practice from the sideline with a broken thumb, two days after his pick-six. The running back room was down to David Montgomery, Marks, and one healthy body behind them, with Noah Whittington, British Brooks, and Jawhar Jordan all sidelined, per Stoots, and linebacker K.C. Ossai went on injured reserve Saturday, per the club's transaction report.

Back in July we previewed Houston as a 12-win team whose record leaned on the parts our data trusts least — a plus-16 turnover margin and the league's number-one defense, both exposed to regression — with the league's worst red-zone finishing as the fixable flaw. We've been checking that preview against camp every week, and this was the week it got complicated: the defense's side of the wager is untouched, but the red-zone fix now has to happen without the biggest receiver it had, and two late-August street signings are patch, not plan.

What to watch next: rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, and the tackle math — the right tackle name and whether Fisher survives the count — will say who won a battle the coaches have not called. Before that, Stroud gets Friday's preseason finale in Carolina, with a joint practice against the Panthers ahead of it. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._