For the Houston Texans, Tuesday’s joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders was supposed to be another preseason checkpoint. Instead, it became another reminder that the wide receiver room is still trying to get healthy at the wrong time.
Jayden Higgins, the 34th-overall pick in the 2025 draft, went down during a red zone drill with a lower leg injury and did not return to practice. He walked off the field under his own power, which at least offered a small measure of reassurance, but the fact remains that the Texans lost another receiver during the second week of the preseason.
A widening concern at receiver
This was not an isolated problem. Entering camp, Jaylin Noel was already recovering from a finger injury, and in the past week he also suffered a hamstring strain. That leaves the Texans dealing with multiple injuries in a position group that needs reps, timing and continuity more than almost any other.
The timing matters because preseason practices are where young receivers build rhythm with C.J. Stroud and get comfortable in live work. Losing one player is inconvenient. Losing multiple pass-catchers in the same stretch makes it harder to evaluate the room as a whole, especially when those injuries arrive before the regular season even begins.
After the injury, Stroud tried to keep the tone measured, saying, “I think he’ll be fine. But I wish the best,” and adding, “Hope he’s all good.” That is the kind of response teams make when they do not yet know the full picture, but it also reflected the basic reality: the Texans are hoping this is a short-term setback rather than something more serious.
For now, the key question is simple. Did Jayden Higgins return to practice after the injury? No. He left Tuesday’s session and did not come back. In a preseason setting, that detail matters almost as much as the injury itself, because it suggests the Texans were wise to shut him down for the day rather than push through a red zone drill that already turned costly.
The Texans still have time to sort this out, but the sequence is becoming hard to ignore. A receiver room that was already thin on healthy reps now has another question hanging over it, and that is not an ideal place to be in the second week of the preseason.
