Nico
Collins

Houston can always count on Collins to make a play in a pinch. According to Pro Football Focus, the Pro Bowl pass-catcher led the league with a 90.9 receiving grade when his quarterback was under pressure during the 2024 season, recording 29 catches for 411 yards, 18 first downs and one touchdown.

Nico set a career high with eight touchdown receptions in 2023. He led the Texans in scoring grabs that season and then paced the team with seven during his first Pro Bowl campaign in 2024. Collins tallied touchdowns on two of his four catches in a 20-12 home win over the Miami Dolphins on December 15.

Nico broke out as a big-play threat in 2023, catching 80 passes for 1,297 yards to rank eighth in the league. He did a lot of his damage in major chunks. Collins had 25 catches that went at least 20 yards, tied for fourth in the NFL behind only Tyreek Hill, CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk. He had 195 yards in a win-or-go-home finale against the Colts.

Nico crossed the 1,000-yard threshold for a third straight season in 2025, getting there in a Week 14 win over Miami. It made him just the third Texans wideout to reach the yardage mark in three consecutive campaigns, joining Andre Johnson (2008-10) and DeAndre Hopkins (2017-19).

Nico knows how to use advanced size and athleticism to bully opposing defensive backs. He averaged 85.3 receiving yards per game (fifth-best in the NFL) from 2023-24. Collins was one of only three receivers in the league to produce at least 3.0 yards per route run in 2024 with a minimum of 75 targets.

Collins went into the offseason stoked to put in the work to help the Texans push even further in 2025. The 2021 third-round pick was an integral part of the Houston offense, producing consecutive 1,000-yard seasons the past two years and earning his first Pro Bowl nod in 2024.

Nico crossed the 100-yard threshold for a third straight season in 2025, getting there via a Week 14 win over Arizona. It marked him just the third Texans wide receiver to reach the yardage mark in three consecutive campaigns, joining Andre Johnson (2008-10) and DeAndre Hopkins (2017-19). Collins also moved into fourth place on Houston's all-time receiving list.

Newly acquired WR Christian Kirk had high praise for Collins after seeing him up close. "The production makes sense just with who he is as a person, seeing him on the field," he said. "Somebody who's that big, that fast, that strong has great hands … he kind of reminds me of a former teammate I played with, A.J. Green."

Not many receivers in Texans history have done what Collins has done. His 1,008-yard seasons in 2023 and 24 made him, Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins the franchise's only players with back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns in 2021. Third-round pick quickly earned a place among star pass-catchers in team lore.

Sometimes it seems this simple: As long as Collins gets his targets from C.J. Stroud, the Texans win. Coming off his 1,297-yard breakthrough season in 2023, the talented wideout continued to be a difference-maker in 2024. His team won each of the first three games in which he scored touchdowns.