In ESPN’s recent NFL roster ranking, analysts Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz and Seth Walder factored in age, talent and player production to sort the league’s 32 teams.
The Houston Texans’ collection of youthful talent and veteran offseason acquisitions helped them come in at No. 8. Clay highlighted Houston’s colossal strength as the receiver room, which includes Nico Collins, Tank Dell and former All-Pro Stefon Diggs.
Collins and Dell are products of general manager Nick Caserio’s work through the draft. Both came as part of draft day trades that saw Houston move up in the third round to secure niche talent.
Collins finally reached his potential with a 1,200-plus yard season as C.J. Stroud’s go-to target. Dell was on his way to smashing every Texans rookie receiving record before suffering a season-ending injury in early December.
Then there’s Diggs, the final piece of the trio acquired from Buffalo this offseason for a future second-round pick. On paper, Stroud might be throwing to the league’s best trio of talent at receiver.
The Texans have three receivers capable of a 1,000-yard season. Everyone around the league knows this.
Now, attention turns to a question that’s only happened five times in league history: can all three hit the 1K marker during the same year?
No team has accomplished the feat since Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steven Breaston hit four digits back with the Arizona Cardinals in 2008. Keep in mind that the squad went on to play against Pittsburgh for a Super Bowl later in February.
Talent is the least of the troubles when surpassing the marker, but there are countless hurdles Houston must pass if it stands a chance.
The first roadblock to avoid is injury. Arizona’s trio played 44 of 48 games, with Boldin being the outlier with four missed matchups.
Dell’s 5-foot-8 and 165-pound frame raises durability concerns, as evident by his Week 13 season-ending leg injury. And before that, he had already missed a game after suffering in Week 5’s loss against Atlanta.
Collins missed 12 games in his first three seasons and at least two since 2021. Diggs has been the healthiest of the bunch, playing in 16 games every season in Buffalo.
Excellent efficiency is the way to overcome missed time. Houston had a prolific passing attack as Stroud led the league in passing yards per game (273.9) and finished in the top three in yards per attempt (8.2) and yards per completion (12.9).
From Week 9-13, Stroud had his best five-game stretch as the Texans won four of their five games. He averaged 348 yards a contest and completed over 65% of his passes. Simultaneously, Dell led the league in TD receptions (five) and third in yards (369) during the four weeks.
According to PFF, Collins and Dell were top-15 in yards per route run. Collins was one of the league’s most efficient, averaging 16.1 yards per reception while emerging as a premiere deep threat. He also reeled in 65.2% of 20+ yards pass attempts, which then was the league’s second-highest conversion rate.
Since Buffalo’s fallout in the divisional round, much has been made of Diggs’ pedestrian second half last season. Still, he posted his fourth consecutive campaign with at least 100 catches and his sixth 1,000-yard season.
Diggs’ work primarily comes in the intermediate portion of the field, where he recorded a 142.3 passer rating when targeted.
Another piece of the equation will be Houston’s willingness to rotate receivers. Robert Woods, John Metchie and Noah Brown each stepped up at times last season, especially Brown with his two games with more than 150 yards.
The final challenge standing in the way of Houston’s record pursuit is offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik’s reluctance to throw on early downs. Houston ranked 26th in early-down pass rate at 50.2%, according to RBSDM, but it may have been out of protection for his rookie quarterback.
There’s reason to believe Slowik will open the field for Stroud with a revamped group of weapons. From Week 9-13, Houston had the ninth-highest early-down pass rate at 56.8% and had the league’s third-best dropback expected points added (0.320).
The Texans certainly aren’t looking to etch their name in statistical history, but there’s a chance the talented trio of Collins, Dell and Diggs can simultaneously dismantle opposing defenses in Year 2 of the Stroud era.
