Who Should I Start? Jalen Coker or Jayden Higgins

Wednesday, August 19, 8:31 AM

Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins (knee) suffered a torn ACL during the team's joint practice on Tuesday against the Las Vegas Raiders, sources told Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Higgins will now miss the entire 2026 season, a tough blow for Houston's offense, as the second-year wideout was set to operate as the WR2 across from Nico Collins. Before his knee injury, the 23-year-old product of Iowa State was a potential Year 2 breakout candidate after he caught 41 of his 68 targets for 525 yards and six touchdowns in 17 regular-season games in 2025. Fantasy managers can now obviously avoid Higgins in all redraft leagues. With Higgins now out of the picture this year, Jaylin Noel, Tank Dell (knee), and Xavier Hutchinson will be asked to step up in the Texans' passing game. Noel will become much more interesting as a flex option in fantasy drafts, but his ultimate role will depend on the ongoing recovery of Dell, who missed all of the 2025 season due to a devastating knee injury the year before. Given the uncertainty of Dell's availability to begin the year, Noel should be the biggest beneficiary of Higgins' season-ending injury.