There is no ranking beside Higgins for Week 1, and there won't be one the rest of the way. He tore his ACL in the middle of August and will miss the entire season, so what follows is a preseason take rather than a lineup call. Houston's target hierarchy behind Nico Collins will have to sort itself out without him.
Higgins tore his ACL in the middle of August and will miss the entire season. That means that his friends and family will not get the honor of reading about him in this space, so I thought I'd include my preseason take on him before erasing him from our memories for the next 12 months:
Higgins was selected with the 34th overall selection in the 2025 draft and the 6'4" weapon did manage to score six times as a rookie despite limited usage. With this team battling injuries, he earned 10 targets in the playoff loss at Foxboro, a positive data point that few 23-year-olds offer.
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With Nico Collins on the field: 1.81 yards per route run
With Nico Collins off the field: 0.94 yards per route run
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I'm very skeptical that the WR2 role is one we care about in Houston, but Higgins would be my bet in that regard and this is a decent spot to see where he stacks up in this target hierarchy. I think the ceiling is a risky dart throw when your team is struggling because of injuries or byes.
Higgins sits outside our top 50 at wide receiver. Here are the last five on the PFN Consensus Board:
46) Khalil Shakir
47) Makai Lemon
48) De'Zhaun Stribling
49) Jordan Addison
50) Romeo Doubs
Every wide receiver is ranked on PFN's Week 1 Consensus Board .
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
