
After trading out of Round 1 in a deal with the Giants, the Texans made Iowa State wide receiver Jayden Higgins their first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with an early second-round choice.
It was a little surprising that Higgins went that high, but clearly the Texans had a need at receiver and opted to go with one of the biggest wideouts in the draft.
You can’t coach size, and Higgins is 6-foot-4 with an 80-inch catch radius.
A South Florida two-sport star, Higgins initially went to Eastern Kentucky and dominated there before transferring to the Cyclones. He caught at least 983 yards in each of his past two seasons with six scores in 2023 and nine in 2024.
Higgins worked as the No. 1 perimeter receiver in Iowa State’s mostly spread scheme, not only finding himself in downfield one-on-one situations but also coming up big across the field on money downs. The plus-sized, Velcro-handed Higgins won’t win every race downfield but is a pretty good candidate to be a reliable short- and intermediate-route target with good body control as well as a red-zone jump-ball winner. And those hands … just two drops on 129 targets in 2024, and one drop over 80 targets in 2023.
H-town’s West Coast offense should put him in position to win in single coverage thanks to his route running and nuanced physicality, though he’s much more like Nico Collins stylistically than any Texans wideout they’ve had the past two seasons. It’s a curious pick for that reason, and it kind of puts a ceiling on what he’ll deliver stat-wise as long as Collins plays.
Expect Higgins to get drafted as a late-round bench receiver in redraft Fantasy Football leagues this summer, well past when Christian Kirk gets chosen and way, way after Collins. Managers who draft him could get impatient if he gets off to a slow start and ditch him for someone else off waivers.
He shouldn’t seriously impact Collins nor Kirk, and he obviously gives C.J. Stroud another big target for years to come. None of their Fantasy values are seriously impacted. This isn’t a good sign for Tank Dell’s future.
Dynasty league managers shouldn’t be over the moon for Higgins, either. Yes, he should see consistent playing time with Stroud for years, but he’ll also be behind Collins in targets until further notice. How often might you start Higgins with high expectations? Maybe a big year in 2026 could catapult him into a consistent role. Ideally he’d be taken somewhere between 10th and 15th overall in rookie-only drafts.
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