There are so many things pertaining to the Houston Texans that are prefaced with “I can’t believe it was only a year ago that ______”, and most of them feel like the time that’s lapsed is about ten years. The last year has been a whirlwind of improvement, success, and newfound swagger.
With that in mind, and in the aftermath of the Texans’ earth shaking trade for Stefon Diggs last week, today’s facet of the Texans whose rapid improvement I would like to examine is indeed the wide receiving corps. Let’s go back a year ago, to Pro Football Focus, and take a look at where the Texans ranked in terms of receiver quality:
32. HOUSTON TEXANS
The Texans bring up the rear in these rankings with no go-to player in the passing game on their roster. I like Robert Woods as a WR2 or WR3, but not as a WR1. I also like Noah Brown, but not as a WR2. The same can be said for Nico Collins.
John Metchie III could be a good player for Houston, but there is a big unknown with him missing all last season. They did sign tight end Dalton Schultz in free agency, which was a good signing. But his presence raises the floor more than it elevates the ceiling. It’s still very much a rebuilding offense in Houston.
Yep, they ranked 32nd in the NFL, a league that contains 32 teams. In other words, their receiving group was believed to be the worst in all of football. As it turns out, the pundits (because PFF was not alone) were WAY off. They didn’t see Nico Collins’ ascension coming, and they didn’t see Tank Dell coming. Those two alone would get the Texans up into the upper third of receiver groups heading into 2024.
But then along comes Stefon Diggs, and the world changes. DRASTICALLY. In fact, this certainly gives the Texans the best trio of wide receivers on one team in the NFL. I’ve listed below the ten teams that have receiver trios that are worth arguing against the Texans’ top three, in no particular order:
MIAMI — 1. Tyreek Hill, 2. Jaylen Waddle, 3, Brazton Berrios
TENNESSEE — 1. Calvin Ridely, 2. DeAndre Hopkins, 3. Traylon Burks
CINCINNATI — 1. Ja’Marr Chase, 2. Tee Higgins, 3 . Trenton Irwin
PHILADELPHIA — 1. A.J. Brown, 2. DeVonta Smith, 3. DaVante Parker
CHICAGO — 1. D.J. Moore, 2. Keenan Allen, 3. Tyler Scott
MINNESOTA — 1. Justin Jefferson, 2. Jordan Addison, 3. Trent Sherfield
TAMPA BAY — 1. Mike Evans, 2. Chris Godwin, 3. Trey Palmer
LA RAMS — 1. Cooper Kupp, 2. Puka Nacka, 3. Tutu Atwell
SEATTLE — 1. D.K. Metcalf, 2. Tyler Lockett, 3. Jaxon Smith-Njigba
SAN FRANCISCO — 1. Brandon Aiyuk, 2. Deebo Samuel, 3. Jauan Jennings
My “back of the cocktail napkin” argument for the Texans having the best trip is that (a) I feel that Diggs and Nico Collins as a top two are close enough to the other top duos to where they’re in the same neighborhood, and (b) subsequently, if we take Tank Dell, as the Texans’ number three wide receiver, he smokes all of these other number three guys on the list.
To wit, here are the yardage and touchdown totals for Dell and the number three guys listed above:
Dell — 709 yards, 7 TD
Smith-Njigba — 624 yards, 4 TD
Atwell — 483 yards, 3 TD
Parker — 394 yards, 0 TD
Palmer — 385 yards, 3 TD
Irwin — 316 yards, 1 TD
Jennings — 265 yards, 1 TD
Berrios — 238 yards, 1 TD
Burks — 221 yards, 0 TD
Scott — 168 yards, 0 TD
Sherfield — 86 yards, 1 TD
Dell is better than ALL of these guys, and he did it in just 11 games, before having his season cut short by a broken leg. This is all evidence of the incredible job that GM Nick Caserio has done in flipping this roster around. Just tremendous.
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