Jayden Higgins torn ACL, MCL end Texans season before it starts

Houston's receiver room just took a gut punch. Jayden Higgins, the team's 2025 second-round pick, suffered a torn ACL during Tuesday's joint practice against the Raiders, and the news only got worse from there once doctors got a closer look.

It's not just the ACL. Dr. David Chao, an orthopedic surgeon who tracks NFL injuries closely, reviewed the tape and confirmed additional MCL damage, calling it a classic contact injury rather than the usual non-contact ACL tear that ends careers on a routine cut. Chao didn't sugarcoat it either.

Chao went a step further, suggesting the injury came on contact and that a teammate involved in the play likely feels awful about how it went down. That's speculation from a doctor watching video, not a confirmed cause, but it underscores how violent joint practices can get once pads start colliding in live red-zone reps.

The timing stings. Higgins was fresh off a solid rookie year, starting 10 games and hauling in 525 yards and 6 touchdowns for Houston, and by all accounts he was building on that with a strong camp before the injury. Hayden Winks framed it as a real hit to Houston's offensive outlook, not just a name on a depth chart.

Now the Texans lean even harder on Nico Collins as the alpha, with Jaylin Noel, Xavier Hutchinson and Tank Dell expected to soak up the leftover targets. That's a shaky trio: Noel is dealing with a hamstring and a finger issue, and Dell is still working back from a serious knee injury that cost him all of last season. Hutchinson, a sixth-round find who set career highs a year ago, suddenly looks like a much bigger piece of the plan than anyone expected in August.

Expect Houston to kick the tires on the trade and waiver markets as camp winds down, since this is the kind of injury that forces a front office's hand. For now, Higgins' season is over before it began, and the Texans' passing game just got a lot thinner behind Collins.