The Houston Texans received a major blow this week as FOX Sports reported on Wednesday that wide receiver Jayden Higgins would miss the 2026 National Football League regular season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The injury happened on Tuesday during a joint practice session between the Texans and Las Vegas Raiders.
Higgins of South Miami, Florida reportedly fell while running a route during a red zone drill. He did leave the field without the assistance of a stretcher.
The 2025 NFL season was Higgins’s rookie year. During 17 games, he had 41 catches for 525 receiving yards and six touchdown catches.
Higgins had career highs in catches on two occasions. He had five catches in a 36-29 Texans win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on November 9, and then five catches again in a 20-16 Texans win over the Indianapolis Colts on November 30. Then in the Texans’s second last regular season win, Higgins had a career-high 88 receiving yards in a 20-16 Texans win over the Los Angeles Chargers on December 27.
Last year, Higgins was third on the Texans in receiving yards. He was behind Nico Collins of Birmingham, Alabama (1117) and tight end Dalton Schultz of Sandy, Utah (777). Higgins also co-led the Texans with Collins in touchdown catches with six.
In the postseason, Higgins had nine catches for 98 receiving yards. He had three catches for 39 receiving yards in the Texans’s dominant 30-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Wildcard Game, and then six catches for 59 yards in a 28-16 Steelers loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Playoff.
Higgins was the Texans’s second round pick, 34th overall, in the 2025 NFL Draft. He played his college football at Iowa State.
